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EIGLISH &RAMMAE. 



THE 



ESGLISH LAN&UAGE 



IN ITS 

ELEMENTS AND FORMS. 

WITH A 

HISTORY OF ITS ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT. 

DESIGNED FOR USE IN _ 

COLLEGES AND SCHOOLS. 



BY 

WILLIAM C. FOWLER, 

LATE PROFESSOR OF RHETORIC IN AMHERST COLLEGE. 



NEW YORK: 

HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, 

82 CLIFF STREET. 

1851. 



/ i, ui I 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand 
eight hundred and flfiy, by 

Harper & Brothers, 

m the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District 
of New York. 

BMlamin Tiiska -> 

April 26, im ^ 



PREFACE. 



In preparing this work, my attention has been constantly fixed upon 
the wants of the Students in the higher institutions of learning. Were 
the president of one of these institutions asked why the systematic study 
of the Enghsh language is neglected in his college, his reply would very 
likely be, " There is no suitable text-book ; our pupils, when boys, 
studied English grammar in the primary schools, despising it, perhaps, 
in comparison with the Latin and the Greek ; but, unfortunately, they 
do not systematically study the language after they have come to ma- 
turity. Hence it often happens that they leave the college for their 
professional studies without a thorough and extensive acquaintance 
with their mother tongue." 

Ought the English language, as a study, to be confined to the lower 
schools, and excluded from colleges ? Is there not enough in its mat- 
ter and in its forms; in its historical elements and relations; in its 
grammatical and logical structure ; in its ordinary uses for the common 
purposes of life ; in its esthetical applications to eloquence and poetry ; 
in it, as a portraiture of the soul of the Anglo-Saxon race, enough to 
attract, and task, and reward the mind in the full maturity of its pow- 
ers ? Besides what it has in common with other languages, is there 
not in it enough of inherent interest, enough of difiiculty, enough of 
fruit in disciplinal influence and practical knowledge to entitle it to a 
place in colleges by the side of the classical languages as a part of a 
liberal education ? " The grammar of a language," says Locke, " is 
sometimes to be studied by a grown man." 

My attention has also been directed to the wants of Teachers in the 
primary schools throughout our land. In giving instruction, questions 
concerning the language frequently arise in their minds, or are pro- 
posed to them by their pupils, which are not solved by the compendious 
books in use. They feel the need of collateral aid. It has been ray 
endeavor to furnish intelligent teachers with helps for answering these 
questions ; to exhibit historical facts and reasonings not found in the 
smaller works, or, indeed, in any one work ; and not only to furnish 
rules and examples, but also to exhibit the foundation-principles of the 
rules, the leges legwn of the language. In short, I have endeavored to 



iv PREFACE. 

furnish not only a text-book for the higher institutions, hut also a ref- 
erence-book for teachers, which may help to give breadth and exact- 
ness to their views, and thus qualify them to impart oral instruction to 
their pupils who study some smaller work. 

It has also been my endeavor to furnish men in Professional life with 
a work for occasional reference or perusal, to keep alive and extend in 
their minds their knowledge of the principles of the language. Presi- 
dent Dwight made the remark, that " every graduate should keep his 
Murray's Grammar" — a work then used in Yale College — " and read 
the more important parts of it at least once a year." Unless men, at 
least occasionally, bestow their attention upon the science and the laws 
of the language, they are in some danger, amid the excitements of pro- 
fessional life, of losing the delicacy of their taste and giving sanction to 
vulgarisms, or to what is worse. On this point, listen to the recent 
declarations of two leading men in the Senate of the United States, 
both of whom understand the use of the English language in its power : 
" In truth, I must say that, in my opinion, the vernacular tongue of 
the country has become greatly vitiated, depraved, and corrupted by 
the style of our Congressional debates." And the other, in courteous 
response, remarked, " There is such a thing as an English and a par- 
liamentary vocabulary, and I have never heard a worse, when circum- 
stances called it out, on this side Billingsgate 1" 

*' Language is not made, but grows." As new ideas germinate in 
a fertile mind, they often come forth in new forms of expression, which 
sometimes become permanent portions of the language. Foreign terms 
are imported. New terms are applied to new inventions in art or new 
discoveries in science. An old term applied to a single object is transi- 
tively applied to other objects. A language thus grows by grafts from 
without and by germs from within. 

This law of growth in the English language is more strikingly seen 
in some epochs than in others ; as, for instance, in the time of Chaucer, 
when the language became rich in expressions of sensible objects and 
simple feelings; as in the age of Shakspeare, when the "imagination 
bodied forth the form of things unknown;" as in the time of Locke, 
when the language was more fully developed as an instrument of rea- 
son ; as in our own times, when it grows with the rapid growth of 
knowledge in the domains of natural science, mental philosophy, and 
the arts. 

The growth of language can not be repressed anymore than can the 
genial activity of the human soul. Especially in our own country, in 
this " wilderness of free minds," new thoughts and corresponding new 



PREFACE. ^ 

expressions spring up spontaneously to live their hour or to be perma- 
nent. As our countrymen are spreading westward across the conti- 
nent, and are brought into contact with other races, and adopt new 
modes of thought, there is some danger that, in the use of their liberty, 
they may break loose from the laws of the English language, and be- 
come marked not only by one, but by a thousand Shibboleths. Now, 
in order to keep the language of a nation one, the leading men in the 
greater or smaller communities, the editors of periodicals, and authors 
generally, should exercise the same guardian care over it which they 
do over the opinions which it is used to express ; and, for this purpose, 
they should be familiar with works which treat of its analogies and 
idioms, that they may understand what are the laws of normal and 
of abnormal growth, and by their own example and influence encourage 
only that which is strictly legitimate. 

Our language, as the depository of the wisdom and experience of past 
generations, we have received by inheritance, to be transmitted to the 
ages to come certainly enlarged, and, if possible, improved. " A man 
should venerate his native language as the first of his benefactors ; as 
the awakener and stirrer of his spiritual thoughts, the form, and mold, 
and rule of his spiritual being ; as the great bond and medium of inter- 
course with his fellows ; as the mirror in which he sees his own nature, 
and without which he can not commune even with himself; as the 
image which the wisdom of God has chosen to reveal itself to him." 
It v/as in some such spirit and under some such impressions that the 
present work was undertaken. 

Philology has of late, especially in Germany, been successfully culti- 
vated in what have been called its two great branches : the Philosophy 
of language or the formation of words; and the Method of language or 
the formation of sentences. English philology has made great ad- 
vances from the indirect contributions received from such men as Rask 
and Bosworth, Grimm and Bopp, Becker and Kiihner, as well as from 
the direct efforts of such as Webster, Latham, and Guest. Some of 
the practical results of their investigations I have embodied in this 
work. Other materials were collected from the wide field of English lit- 
erature while I was engaged in giving instruction to classes in college 
The older granmiarians, such as Wallis, Greenwood, and Lowth, I 
have consulted, as well as some of the modern, such as Murray, Crom- 
bie, and Arnold. I am also under obligation to Whately, Gray, and 
Mill, in logic ; and to Harrison, and especially to Sir John Stoddart, in 
etymology and syntax. To Dr. Latham, late Professor of the En- 
glish language and literature in the London University, something 



Vi PREFACE. 

more than a general acknowledgment is due. I have read his works 
with great advantage, and used them freely. 

I have also to state that I am much indebted to Professor J. W. 
Gibbs, of Yale College, who has been well known as a successful laborer 
in comparative philology, especially in its application to the English 
language. The sections contributed by him are, 50, 53, .74, 75, 76, 
83, 84, 225, 308, 309, 317, 318, 319, 324, 328, 329, and from 332 to 
365, inclusive. 

My thanks are also due to those literary friends who originally ad- 
vised me to undertake this work, who have encouraged me in its prog- 
ress, or who have improved it by their suggestions. 

The work is divided into eight parts, in which the English language 
is presented under eight different aspects. Each part is intended to be 
distinct in itself, and yet all of them, in their mutual correlation, to 
constitute one logical whole. A glance at the Table of Contents will 
show that the work is intended to present a full Grammar of the lan- 
guage. In the Syntactical part the laws of construction are given in 
the rules and notes, illustrated by examples. In the Exercises, an 
example of correct or of false Syntax is furnished for the application 
of each rule or note, that the learner may repeat to the teacher the 
rule or note which it suggests. It has been thought better, for the 
most part, to present as examples forms of expression which are cor- 
rect, rather than those which are exceptionable. But the labor and 
the difficulty of preparing a work upon the language like this, in which 
each part shall be exhibited in its specific distinctness, and the whole in. 
its generic complexity, in such a manner as at once to satisfy the ripe 
scholar and to attract the learner, can not be readily appreciated. The 
exactness of certain sciences should not throughout be demanded. 
Many facts and principles pertaining to the language are indeed settled ; 
but in respect to others, only an approximation to exactness can be ex- 
pected. Authorities are often divided ; those upon whom we rely may 
have fallen into error, and apparent facts often lead to opposite conclu- 
sions. 

The work, such as it is, is offend to the public, in the hope that it 
may prove a valuable help to those who desire a thorough acquaint- 
ance with the origin and history, the structure and laws of the English 
language. 

W. C. F 

Amherst, August, 1850. 



CONTENTS. 



PART I. 

THE ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 
CHAPTER I. 

,- GENERAL RELATIONS OF LANGUAGE. 



Section Page 

1. Definition of Language 17 

2. Origin of Language 18 

3. The Unity of Language 20 

4. Example of the Affinities of 

Languages 21 

5. The Primitive Language .... 23 

6. Diversities in Languages .... 23 

7. Classification of Languages. . 25 

8. Balbi's Classification 25 

9. Schlegel's Classification 27 

10. The Shemitic Languages .... 28 

11. The Indo-European Langua- 

ffes 29 



Section Page 

12. The local Origin of the En- 

glish Language 30 

13. The Teutonic Branch 31 

14. The Scandinavian Branch. ... 31 

15. The Term Gothic 31 

16. The Term German 31 

17. The Term Dutch 32 

18. The Term Anglo-Saxon 32 

19. An aboriginal Finnic People . 32 

20. The Birth-place of Language. 33 

21. Value of Spoken Language . . 34 

22. Value of Written Language . . 35 

23. The Study of Language 35 



CHAPTER n. 



THE HISTORICAL ELEMENTS 

24. The Celtic Element 39 

25. The Latin Element 41 

26. The Anglo-Saxon Element . . 42 

27. The Danish or Norse Element 46 

28. The Anglo-Norman Element 47 

29. The Language before the Nor- 

man Conquest 49 

30. Miscellaneous Elements 52 

31. Relations of the Mceso-Gothic 53 

32. Relations of the Frisian 54 

33. Relations of the Anglo-Saxon 56 

34. Outv^ard Causes of Change . . 60 

35. Specimens of Anglo-Saxon . . 61 

36. Changes from Anglo-Saxon to 

Semi-Saxon 61 

37. Old English Stage 62 

38. Predominant Forms 63 



OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 

39. Middle English and Modern 

English 65 

40. Present Tendencies of the Lan- 

guage 75 

41. Influence of the Norman and 

the Saxon Conquests 75 

42. Recapitulation of the Principal 

Elements 76 

43. Number of Anglo-SaxonWords 76 

44. The Kind of Words 76 

45. The Expressiveness 77 

46. English Grammar and the An- 

glo-Saxon 78 

47. The Stability of the English 

Language 7.8 

48. The Prospects of the English 

Language 79 



Vlll 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER III. 

DIALECTS AND PROVINCIALISMS OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 

Section Page Section Page 

49. Causes of Peculiarities of Dia- 51. Lowland Scotch 89 

lect, and Specimens 80 52. American Dialects 91 

50. Peculiarities of the Cockney 53. The Lord's Prayer in Anglo- 

Dialect 86 Saxon 94 



PART 11. 

THE PHONOLOGY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 
CHAPTER L 



ELEMENTARY SOUNDS IN 

54. Mode of Production 97 

55. Classification 98 

56. Consonantal Sounds 98 

57. Vowel Sounds 99 

58. Surds and Sonants 100 

59. Continuous and Explosive 

Sounds 100 

60. Dr. Rush's Classification. . . 100 

61. Table of Elementary Sounds 101 



THE SPOKEN LANGUAGE. 

62. Explanation of the Table... 101 

63. Recapitulation of Elementa- 

ry Sounds 103 

64. Compound Sounds 103 

65. Triphthongs 104 

66. Vowel Sounds not in the Lan- 

guage 104 

67. Relationship of certain Con- 

sonantal Sounds 105 



CHAPTER IL 

CERTAIN COMBINATIONS. 

68. Unpronounceable Combina- 70. Unstable Combinations 108 

tions 106 71 . Evolution of new Sounds ... 108 

69. Explanation of the preced- 72. Double Consonants rare 109 

ing 107 73. True Aspirates rare 110 



CHAPTER in. 
74. Genesis of English Vowel 75. Genesis of English Consonant 



Sounds Ill 



Sounds 114 



CHAPTER IV. 



76. Euphony 115 

77. A Euphonic Process 117 

78. Euphonic Figures 117 

79. The Permutation and Transi- 

tion of Letters 118 



80. Permutation of Vowels 118 

8 1 . Permutation of Consonants . . 119 

82. Permutation of Combinations 119 

83. Examples of the Transposi- 

tion of the Letter r 120 



CONTENTS. ix 



CHAPTER V. 
Section Page 

84. The Natural Significancy of Articulate Sounds 120 

CHAPTER VI. 

85. Words and Syllables 129 88. Rules for the Division of 

86. Etymological and Phonetic Words into Syllables 131 

Relations 130 89. Monosyllabic Character of 

87. Breath Arrested — Escaping 130 the English Language. . . 131 

CHAPTER VII. 

90. Quantity 133 92. Appreciation of L. Murray's 

91. Independent and Dependent Statement — Appreciation 

Vowels 134 of his Rules 135 

CHAPTER VIII. 

93. Accent 137 96. Accent on Trisyllables 139 

94. The Influence of Accent in Me- 97. Accent on Polysyllables 139 

ters and Orthography. . . 138 98. Accent and Quantity do not 

95. Accent on Dissyllables 138 coincide 139 

CHAPTER IX. 
99. Definition of Orthoepy 140 102. Undefined Notions as to the 

100. Errors in Pronunciation as Language 141 

related to Accent, Quan- 103. Standards of Pronuncia- 
tity, Articulation, &c 140 tion 143 

101. The Fault of Incompetent 104. Qualifications for making a 

Enunciation 141 Decision 144 



PART III. 

ORTHOGRAPHICAL FORMS IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 

CHAPTER L 
105. General Principles of Or- 106. Theory of a Full and Per- 

thography 146 feet Alphabet .. , 146 

CHAPTER IL 

107. Alphabets 147 110. Certain Conventional Modes 

108. Defects of the English Al- of Spelling 151 

phabet 148 111. Mischief of Orthographical 

109. Peculiarities 149 Expedients 152 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER III. 

Section Page Section Page 

112. Classification of the Ele- 114. Consonant Letters 153 

mentary Signs 152 115. Diphthongs 153 

113. Vowel Letters 153 116. Triphthongs 153 

CHAPTER IV. 

RELATIONS OF THE LETTERS TO THE ELEMENTARY SOUNDS. 

117. Vowel Letters and their Rep- 118. Consonant Letters 158 

resentative Powers 154 119. Equivalent Letters 163 

CHAPTER V. 

120. Application of the Principles 122. Alleged Harshness of the 

of Orthography 165 Language, and Pinker- 

121. Causes of the Diversity in ton' a Scheme for Correct- 

Orthography 168 ing it 169 

CHAPTER VL 

123. Historical Sketch of the En- 126. The Moeso-Gothic Alphabet 173 

glish Alphabet 170 127. The Anglo-Saxon Alphabet 174 

124. Phoenician, Hebrew, or She- 128. The Anglo-Norman Period 175 

mitic Period 171 129. The Runic Alphabet 175 

125. Italian, or Old Latin Pe- 130. Grammar. 176 

riod 172 131. English Grammar 177 



PAUT IV. 

ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 
CHAPTER L 

CLASSIFICATION OF THE PARTS OF SPEECH. 

132. Definitions 178 135. Third Classification j. 180 

133. First Classification 179 136. Transition of the Parti- 

134. Second Classification .... . 180 cles 18. 

CHAPTER IL 

137. The Substantive or Noun. .181 141. Genders of Nouns 183 

138. The Classification of Nouns 182 142. Gender founded on the Dis- 

139. Proper Nouns become Com- tinction of Sex 186 

mon 182 143. Gender distinguished by 

140. The Attributes of Nouns . . 183 Termination 184 



CONTENTS. 



XI 



Section Page 

144. Gender distinguished by dif- 

ferent Words 185 

145. Common Gender. 186 

146. Gender does not exactly co- 

incide with Sex 186 

147. Personification as Affecting- 

Gender 187 

148. Various Forms of Gen- 

der 187 

149. Feminine Terms 190 

1 50. Numbers of Nouns 190 

151 . Plurals in en 193 

152. Change of Vowel 193 

153. Double Form of the Plural 193 

154. Two Plurals 193 

155. Foreign Words retaining 

their Plurals 193 

156. Foreign Words having an 

English Plural and the 
Original one 194 

157. Nouns having no Plural 

Termination 194 

158. Nouns denoting Plurality. . 194 

159. The same Form in both 

Numbers 194 

160. Nouns having the Plural 

Termination only 195 



Section Page 

161. Nouns Plural in Form, and 

Singular or Plural in Sig- 
nification 195 

162. Certain Nouns of Greek 

Origin 196 

163. Dozen^ Pair^ &c 196 

164. Compounds 197 

165. Four Simple Forms of the 

Plural 197 

166. Cases of Nouns 197 

167. Origin of the Word Case . . 197 

168. Casein the Laplandish Lan- 

guage 198 

169. Declension of English Nouns 198 

170. Inflection of the Genitive. . 199 

171. Pronunciation of the Geni- 

tive 199 

172. History of the English Gen- 

itive 199 

173. True Nature of the Geni- 

tive Form 201 

174. Number of Cases 201 

175. Change of the Anglo-Saxon 

Form 201 

176. A True Accusative in En- 

glish 202 

177. The Analysis of Cases. ... 203 



CHAPTER III. 



178. The Adjective 204 

179. Classification of Adjectives 204 

180. Second Classification 205 

181. Descriptive and Definitive 

Adjectives 207 

182. Proper, Numeral, Pronom- 

inal, &c., Adjectives .... 207 

183. Comparison of Adjectives. . 208 

184. Irregular Comparison 209 



185. Irregular Terminations ... 210 

186. Defective Comparison 211 

187. Certain Forms in er 212 

188. Either, Neither, &c 213 

189. Intensive Words 213 

190. Bravest of the Brave 213 

191. Someivhat, Little, &c 213 

192. Adjectives not admitting 

Comparison 214 



CHAPTER IV. 

193. Numerals 215 195. Two and Two, Three and 

194. Compound Numerals of the Three 216 

Ordinal Series 215 196. Division of Numerals 216 



Xii 



CONTENTS. 



Section 

197. The Articles 216 

198. Relation of Articles to the 

Proposition 217 

199. The Article An ox A 217 

200. The Article That 217 



CHAPTER V. 

Page Section 



201. Absence of Articles from 

certain Languages 218 

202. Origin of Articles 219 

203. The derived from Anglo- 

Saxon TAai 219 



CHAPTER VL 

204. The Pronomi ...,., 219 206. Second Classification of Pro- 

205. First Classification of Pro- ^ nouns, with Explanations 

nouns 221 of the Classes 221 

CHAPTER VII. 



207. Personal Pronouns 221 

208. Accidents of Personal Pro- 

nouns 222 

209. Declension of Personal Pro- 

nouns in Anglo-Saxon . . 222 

210. The Declension of the En- 

glish Personal Pronouns 
not an Exhibition of True 
Etymological Relations . 223 

211. Pronouns of the First Per- 

son S23 

212. We and Our 223 

213. Us 223 

214. Changes of Form in the 

First Person 223 



215. Substitution of Unity for Plu- 

rality 224 

216. Pronouns of the Second Per- 

son 224 

217. You 225 

218. Ye 225 

21^. It is Rim ; It is Her 225 

220. Substitution of Plurality for 

Unity 226 

221. German Usage 227 

222. Pronouns of the Third Person 228 

223. She 229 

224. They, Their, Them 230 

225. Possessive Adjective Pro- 

nouns 230 



CHAPTER VIII. 



226. Self used instead of a Re- 

flective Pronoun 233 

227. Formerly Self was used as 

an Adjective . .. 233 



228. No True Reflective Pro- 

noun in the English Lan- 
guage 234 

229. The Use of Oiv7i 234 



CHAPTER IX. 

230. Demonstrative Pronouns . . 235 233. Those 236 

231. Declension of p^T and pis 235 234. Latham's View of Demon- 

232. These 236 .strative Pronouns 236 



CHAPTER X. 



235. Relative Pronouns 237 

236. Who 237 

237. Which 237 

238. What 237 

239. That 238 



240. 



used as a Relative Pro- 



noun 



238 

241. Compound Relatives 238 

242. Subjunctive and Prepositive 

Pronouns 238 



CONTENTS. xi^£ 



CHAPTER XI. 

Section Page Section Page 

243. Interrogative and Respons- 246. Declension in Anglo-Saxon 

ive Pronouns 239 of Hwcet and Hwd 240 

244. Offices of Who, Which, and 247. Derivation of Which 240 

What 239 248. Reciprocal Pronouns 240 

245. Offices of Responsives 239 249. The Indeterminate Pronoun 240 

CHAPTER XIL 

250. Adjective Pronouns , , . . 241 

CHAPTER XIII. 

251. The Verb 244 253. Transitive Verbs 245 

252. Classification of Verbs 245 254. Intransitive Verbs 246 

CHAPTER XIV. 

255. The Attributes of Verbs. .. 246 270. The Characteristics of the 

256. The Persons of Verbs. .... 247 Modes 253 

257. The Numbers of Verbs .... 248 271 . Potential Mode 254 

258. The Tenses of the Verb. . . 249 272. The Conjunctive Mode ... 254 

259. Present Tense 249 273. The Connection between the 

260. Past Tense 249 Noun and Verb 254 

261. Future Tense 250 274. Inflection of the Infinitive 

262. Present Perfect Tense 250 Mode .... ........ 256 

263. Past Perfect Tense. ...... 251 275. View of English Infinitives. 257 

264. Future Perfect Tense 251 276. The Number of Modes ... 257 

265. True Tenses 251 277. The Participles 258 

266. Greek Tenses 252 278. The Present Participle 258 

267. Modes of the Verb 252 279. The Past Participle 259 

268. The Participle viewed as a 280. The Letter t/ prefixed to the 

Mode 252 Past Participle 261 

269. The Anglo-Saxon Modes . . 253 281 . Conjugation 261 

CHAPTER XV. 

282. Auxiliary Verbs 262 286. Classification of Auxiliary 

283. Classification of Auxiliary Verbs, in respect to their 

Verbs 262 Mode of Construction. . . 265 

284. Derivation of Auxiliary Verbs 262 287. Conjugation of the Auxil- 

285. May and Can used in Two iary Verbs, with the re- 

Senses 264 mark of Wallis 26'5 

CHAPTER XVI. 

288. The Verb Substantive 268 290. Conjugation of the Verb To 

289. Worth 269 Be 270 



XIV 



CONTENTS. 



Section 

291. The Strong or Ancient Con- 

jugation 273 

292. The Termination -en of the 

Passive Participle 273 

293. The Vowel of the Partici- 

ple 273 



CHAPTER XVII. 

Page Section 



Page 



294. The Classes of Strong Verbs 274 

295. General Statements 279 

296. Obsolete Forms 279 

297. Conjugation of the Strong 

Verb To Take 280 

298. The Subjunctive Forms ... 281 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

299. The Weak or Modern Con- 302. Third Division 288 

jugation 287 303. Conjugation of the Weak 

300. First Division 287 Verb To Love, commonly 

301. Second Division 287 called Regular 289 



CHAPTER XIX. 
304. Irregular Verbs 295 306. List of Verbs commonly call- 
ed Irregular 296 



305. Vital and Obsolete Processes 295 



CHAPTER XX. 
307. Derived Verbs 302 



CHAPTER XXL 

308. Reflective Verbs 303 

CHAPTER XXIL 

309. Impersonal Verbs 305 

CHAPTER XXIIL 

310. Defective Verbs 307 



CHAPTER 

311. Adverbs 308 

312. Particles 309 

313. Origin of Adverbs 309 

314. Adverbs ending in -hj 309 

315. Adverbs with the Prefix .^3 310 

316. Adverbial Pronouns 310 

317. Adverbs from Concrete Sub- 

stantives 310 



XXIV. 

318. Adverbs from Cases 311 

319. Adverbs having the same 



Form as Adjectives 

320. Adverbial Phrases 

321. Comparison of Adverbs . 

322. Classification of Adverbs 

323. No and Nay, Yes and Yea 



311 
314 
314 
315 
3.:6 



324. Primitive Adverbs of Place 317 



CONTENTS. 



XV 



CHAPTER XXV. 
Section Page Section Page 

325. Prepositions 319 327. Origin of certain Prepositions 321 

326. Simple and Compound Prep- 328. The Nature and Office of 

ositions 320 Prepositions 323 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

329. Conjunctions 325 332. The Origin of Conjunctions, 

330. Harris's Classification .... 325 

331. Connectives and Disjunctives 325 



with the views of Home 
Tooke... 327 



CHAPTER XXVII. 
333. Interjections. 330 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 



334. Derivation 334 

The Constituent Elements 

of the English Language 335 

335. Development of the Anglo- 

Saxon Portion of the Lan- 
guage 342 

336. Pronominal Elements . 345 

337. Roots in the English Lan- 

guage 346 

338. Specimen of a Vocabulary 

of English Roots 351 

,339. The English Roots To Wit 

and To Know 356 

340. English Suffixes . 357 

341. Hood or Head 358 

342. Dom 359 

343. Ship or Scape 359 

344. Ness 360 

345. Teutonic Prefixes in the En- 

glish Language 362 

346. Disuse of Teutonic Suffix- 

es 364 

367 
369 
371 
372 



347. The English Prefix A.... 

348. The English Prefix Be.... 

349. The English Prefix For... 

350. The English Prefix Mis. . . 

351. The Classical Element in 

the English Language . 



374 



352. Development of the Latin 

Portion of our Language 376 

353. English Prefixes derived 

from the Latin. 380 

354. The Inseparable Particle jRe 383 

355. Romanic Suffixes 384 

356. English Prefixes derived 

from the French 386 

357. Development of the Greek 

Portion of our Language 389 

358. Greek Suffixes 390 

359. English Prefixes derived 

from the Greek 393 

360. The Formation of Com- 

pound Words 398 

361. CompoundWords in English 401 

362. Disguised English Com- 

pounds 405 

363. Accidental Coincidences . . 409 

364. Double Forms in the En- 

glish Language 411 

365. Illusive Etymologies 414 

366. Diminutives 420 

367. Origin of English Surnames 421 

368. Names of Places 427 

369. Names of the Days of the 

Week 429 

370. Names of the Months 429 



XVI 



CONTENTS. 



PAET V. 

LOGICAL FORMS. 
CHAPTER I. 

PRELIMINARY STATEMENTS. 

Section Page Section Page 

371. Definitions 430 373. The Union of the Three. . . 431 

372. The Relations of Grammar, 374. Logic wholly concerned in 

Logic, and Rhetoric .... 430 the Use of Language. . . 431 



CHAPTER IL 



375. Terms 431 

376. Some Parts of Speech can 

be used as Terms 432 

377. Categorematic and Syncat- 

egorematic Words 432 

378. Predicates 433 



379. Genus and Species 434 

380. Abstraction and Generaliza- 

tion 435 

381. Division 437 

382. Examples of Division 437 

383. Definition 438 



CHAPTER IIL 



384. The Proposition 439 

385. Parts of a Proposition not 

More than Three 440 

386. Parts of a Proposition not 

Fewer than Three 441 

387. Questions of Appeal 442 

388. The Resolution of Proposi- 

tions ....,,... 442 



389. The Adverb There 442 

390. Division of Propositions ... 443 

391. Distribution 444 

392. Conversion of a Proposition 445 

393. Opposition 445 

394. Simple Propositions and 

Complex 446 

395. Compound Propositions . . . 446 



CHAP 

396. The Relations of the Prop- 

osition to the Parts of 

Speech 447 

397. Tests ofthe Parts of Speech 448 

398. The Substantive 449 

399. The Adjective 449 

400. The Pronoun 449 

401. The Verb 451 

402. The Articles 452 

403. Negatives 452 

404. Interrogatives 452 

405. Adverbs 452 

406. Prepositions 453 



TER IV. 

407. Conjunctions * . . . . 453 

408. Interjections 453 

409. Logical and Grammatical 

Elements of a Proposition 454 

410. The Persons of Verbs 455 

411. Certain Oblique Cases .... 455 

412. Trifling Propositions 456 

413. The Relation of certain Log- 

ical Forms to certain 
States of the Mind 457 

414. Language affords the Signs 

of the Operations of the 
Mind 457 



CONTENTS. 



XVll 



CHAP 
Section Page 

415. Argument 458 

416. Syllogism 458 

417. Every Syllogism must have 

Three Terms 459 

418. Mode of a Syllogism 460 

419. Figure of a Syllogism 460 

420. The Enthymeme 461 

421. The Rhetorical Enthymeme 462 

422. Conditional Syllogisms 462 

423. Sorites 463 

424. Dilemma 464 



TER V. 

Section "Page 

425. Analogy 465 

426. Deduction, Induction, and 

Example, with Illustra- 
tions 465 

427. Fallacy 466 

428. The Undistributed Middle. 466 

429. Illicit Process 466 

430. Negative Premisses 467 

431 . Petitio Principii 467 

432. Ignoratio Elenchi 467 

433. Examples of Fallacies 468 



PART VI. 

SYNTACTICAL FORMS IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 



CHAPTER I. 

434. Definitions of Syntax 470 

435. Sentences 470 

436. Concord 471 

437. Government 471 

438. Convertibility 471 

439. Grammatical Equivalents . 471 



440. The Grammatical Subject . . 471 

441. The Grammatical Predi- 
cate 472 

442. Figures of Syntax 472 

443. Exercises 473 

444. Exercises 474 



CHAPTER II. 

SYNTAX OF THE SUBSTANTIVE. 



445. Nominative Case 474 451. Apposition. 

446. Collocation of the Nomina- 

tive 476 

447. Possessive Case 477 

448. Collocation 479 

449. Attributive Relations 479 

450. The Objective Case 480 



481 

452. Compound Nouns 483 

453. Exercises under Rule I. . . . 484 

454. Exercises under Rule II. . . 484 

455. Exercises under Rule III. . 484 

456. Exercises under Rule IV. . 485 

457. Exercises under § 452 .... 485 



CHAPTER III. 



SYNTAX OF THE ADJECTIVE. 



458. Adjectives belong to Sub- 

stantives 485 

459. The Collocation of Adjec- 

tives 489 

460. Pronominal Adjectives, . . . 491 



461 . Each, Every, Either 492 

462. Many, Few, &c. 492 

463. All, None, &c 493 

464. The Adjective No 493 

465. Definite Numeral Adjectives 494 



xviii CONTENTS. 

Section Page Section 

466. Pair, Couple, &c 494 471. Of the Collocation of Arti- 

467. Cardinals and Ordinals used cles 

as Nouns 494 472. Exercises under Rule V. , . 

468. The Definite Article jln or 473. Exercises under Rules VI., 

^ 494 VII., VIIL, IX 

469. The Indefinite Article The 496 474. Example under §464. Ex- 

470. Examples of the Use of Ar- ercises under Rules X., 

tides 498 XL, XII., XIII., XIV. . . 



Page 

499 
499 

500 



500 



CHAPTER IV. 



SYNTAX O 

475. Pronouns agree with their 

Antecedents 502 

476. Two Antecedents connected 

hy Jlnd 502 

477. Two Antecedents separated 

by Or 503 

478. Personal Pronouns 503 

479. The Word Self 506 

480. Demonstrative Pronouns . . 509 

481. Relative Pronouns 511 

482. Relatives not of the same 

Case as the Antecedent. 511 

483. Which of Two Words in a 

Clause is the Anteced- 
ent 512 

484. Antecedents of Different Per- 

sons 512 

485. The Gender of TFAo, Which, 

andThat 513 

486. Who, Which, or That, in 

Compound Sentences ... 513 

487. A Clause between the Rela- 

tive and the Verb 513 

488. The Antecedent after the 

Relative 513 

489. The Relative That 514 



PRONOUNS. 

490. Ellipsis with the Use of Su- 

perlatives 515 

491. Relatives connected should 

not change their Form. . 515 

492. What has the Sense of That 

which 515 

493. Interrogative Pronouns . ... 516 

494. Reciprocal Pronouns 517 

495. Indeterminate Pronouns. . . 517 

496. Exercises under Rule XV. .518 

497. Exercises under Rule XVI. 518 

498. Exercises under Rule XVII. 518 

499. Exercises under Rule XVIII. 518 

500. Exercises under Rule XIX. 519 

501 . Exercises under Rules XX., 

XXI., XXII., XXIII., 
XXIV., XXV., XXVL, 
XXVII 519 

502. Exercises under § 488 520 

503. Exercises under § 489 520 

504. Exercises under § 490 520 

505. Exercises under Rule 

XXVIII 521 

506. Exercises under Rules 

XXIX., XXX., XXXI., 
XXXII. 521 



CHAPTER V. 

SYNTAX OF THE VERB. 

507 . The Agreement of the Verb 5 1 . A Verb having Two or More 

with its Subject 521 Subjects 525 

508. Collocation 523 511. Singular Nouns connected by 

509. Concord of Number 524 Disjunctive Conjunctions. 526 



CONTENTS. 



XIX 



Section Page 

512. Concord of Person 526 

>5i3. A Verb having a Collective 

Noun for a Nominative . . 528 

514. Government of Verbs 528 

515. Intransitive Verbs followed 

by Nomis kindred to their 

own 532 

516. The Substantive Verb 532 

517. Copulative Verbs 534 

518. Syntax of the Infinitive .... 534 

519. Construction of the Infini- 

tive... 535 

520. The Verbs Bid, Dare, &c. . 536 

521. Construction of the Impera- 

tive Mode 537 

522. Nature of the Imperative 

Mode 538 

523. The Subjunctive Mode .... 538 

524. Though and Although are 

peculiar 539 

525. Tenses 539 

526. Peculiarities in the Use of 

the Preterites 540 

527. Verbal Character of Parti- 

ciples 541 

528. Adjectival Character 541 

529. Nominal Character 541 

530. Exercises under Rule 

XXXIII 544 



Section Page 

531. Exercises under Rule 

XXXIV 544 

532. Exercises under Rule 

XXXV 544 

533. Exercises under Rule 

XXXVI 545 

534. Exercises under Rule 

XXXVII 545 

535. Exercises under Rule 

XXXVIII 545 

536. Exercises under Rule 

XXXIX 545 

537. Exercises under Rule XL. 545 

538. Exercises under Rule XLI. 546 

539. Exercises under Rule XLII. 546 

540. Exercises under Rule 

XLIII. 546 

541. Exercises under Rule 

XLIV 546 

542. Exercises under Rule XL V. 546 

543. Exercises under Rule XL VI. 547 

544. Exercises under Rule 

XL VII 547 

545. Exercises under Rule 

XL VIII 547 

546. Exercises under Rule XLIX. 547 

547. Exercises under Rule L.. . 547 

548. Certain Uses of the Verb. 

with Examples 548 



CHAPTER VL 

SYNTAX OF ADVERBS. 

549. The Office of Adverbs in re- 550. The Collocation of Adverbs 552 

spect to Words. &c 550 551. Correspondent Adverbs . . . 553 



CHAPTER VII. 

SYNTAX OF PREPOSITIONS. 

552. Prepositions govern the Ob- 553. The Collocation of Preposi- 



jective Case 553 



tions 557 



CHAPTER VII L 

SYNTAX OF CONJUNCTIONS. 



554. Office of Conjunctions 557 

555. Convertibility .... 558 



556. Certainty and Uncertainty. 558 

557. Conditional Conjunctions , 559 



XX CONTENTS. 

Section Page Section Page 

558. Conjunctions have not a 560. Interjections 563 

fixed Meaning.. 560 561. Exercises under Rule LI. . 563 

559. Point of Practice in determ- 562. Exercises under Rule LII. . 564 

ining Amount of Doubt. . 560 563. Exercises under Rule LIII. 564 

CHAPTER IX. 

564, Syntax of Simple Sentences 565 567. The Objective Combination 566 

565. The Predicative Combina- 568. Composition of Sentences . 566 

tion 565 569. Interrogative Sentences. . . 567 

586. The Attributive Combina- 570. Imperative Sentences 567 

tion 566 571. Exclamatory Sentences. . . 567 

CHAPTER X. 

572. Syntax of Compound Sen- 579. Adjective Sentences as rela- 

tences 567 ted to Adjectives, &c. . . 570 

573. Copulative Co-ordinate Sen- 580. Adverbial Sentences 570 

tences 568 581. Exercises in Sentences. . . . 571 

574. Adversative Co-ordinate Sen- 582. Grammatical Equivalents. . 572 

tences 568 583. Examples of Grammatical 

575. Disjunctive Co-ordinate Sen- Equivalents 572 

tences 568 584. Exercises 573 

576. Causal Co-ordinate Senten- 585. Translation of Old English 574 

ces 568 586. Translation of Poetry . 575 

577. Subordinate Sentences .... 569 587. Promiscuous Exercises in 

578. Substantive Sentences .... 569 False Syntax 575 

CHAPTER XL 

588. Parsing 577 590. Promiscuous Exercises in 

589. Examples of Parsing 578 Correct Syntax 579 

CHAPTER XIL 

591. Rules for the Choice of 593. Barbarism 587 

Words 585 594. Solecism 588 

592. Purity 586 595. Impropriety 588 



PART VII. 

RHETORICAL FORMS IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 
CHAPTER L 

PRELIMINARY STATEMENTS. 

596. Definition of Rhetoric 589 599. Emotion derived from the 

597. Eloquence the Language of Subject 591 

Emotion 589 600. Emotion regulated by Judg- 

598. Emotion, Continued 590 ment 591 



CONTENTS. 



XXI 



Section Page 

601. Eloquence related to the 

Love of Truth 591 

602. Eloquence related to a 

strong Sense of Right. . . 592 

603. Eloquence related to an 

End 593 

604. Eloquence related to good 

Sense 594 

605. Eloquence related to vivid 

Conception 594 

606. Eloquence related to a De- 

sire to Speak 595 

607. Eloqence related to a strong 

Will 596 

608. Definition of Rhetorical 

Forms 597 



Section Page 

609. Rhetorical Forms as the Me- 

dium of Intellection .... 598 

610. Familiarity with Rhetorical 

Forms 598 

611. Rhetoric as interfering with 

Grammatical Construc- 
tion 599 

612. Rhetorical Language and 

Plain Language 599 

613. Figures of Words and Fig- 

ures of Thought 600 

614. Statement concerning the 

Value of Figures 600 

615. Rules for the Use of Tropes 600 

616. Directions for the Study of 

Rhetorical Forms 601 



CHAPTER IL 

DEFINITIONS- AND EXAMPLES. 



617. Allegory 601 

618. Allusion 605 

619. Anacoenosis 606 

620. Anadiplosis 606 

621. Anagram 606 

622. Anaphora 606 

623. Antithesis 607 

624. Antonomasia 609 

625. Apologue 609 

626. Aposiopesis 610 

627. Apostrophe 610 

628. Catachresis 611 

629. Climax 612 

630. Anti-climax. 612 

631. Ecphonesis or Exclamation 613 

632. Enigma 613 

633. Epanalepsis 614 

634. Epanorthosis 614 

635. Epizeuxis 614 



636. Erotesis 615 

637. Euphemism 615 

638. Hyperbole 615 

639. Hypotyposis 616 

640. Irony 617 

641. Litotes 618 

642. Metalepsis 618 

643. Metaphor 618 

644. Metonymy 619 

645. Parable 620 

646. Paraleipsis 620 

647. Paronomasia 620 

648. Prosopopceia 621 

649. Proverb 622 

650. Repartee 622 

651. Sarcasm.. 622 

652. Simile 623 

653. Syllepsis 624 

654. Synecdoche 625 



CHAPTER IIL 
655. Exercises in Figures of Speech 



625 



CHAPTER IV. 

656. Perspicuity 632 658. The Unintelligible from va- 

657. Double Meaning 633 rious C^-uses 634 



Xxii CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER V. 
Section Page Section Page 

65S. Liveliness of Expression . . 635 661. A Statement of the Con- 
660. Periodic Sentences and Loose stituent Parts of a Dis- 

Sentences 636 course 637 



PART VIIL 

POETICAL FORMS. 



CHAPTER L 

PRELIMINARY STATEMENTS. 

662. Definitions 638 671 . Imperfect Rhymes 643 

663. Prosody , . . . . 638 672. Double and Triple Rhymes 644 

664. Accent 638 673. Middle Rhyme 645 

665. Meter 639 674. Sectional Rhyme 646 

666. Measures 640 675. Inverse Rhyme ...... 646 

667. Dissyllabic Measures 641 676. Alliteration 646 

668. Trisyllabic Measures 641 677. Blank Verse 646 

669. Rhyme 642 678. Poetical License, \A4th Ex- 

670. Analysis of a Pair of Rhym- amples 647 

ing Syllables 642 679. Elision 648 

CHAPTER IL 

IAMBIC MEASURES. 

680. Iambic Monometer, with the 683. Iambic Tetrameter 651 

Iambic Formula 649 684. Iambic Pentameter 652 

681. Iambic Dimeter 650 685. Iambic Hexameter 653 

682. Iambic Trimeter 651 686. Iambic Heptameter 654 

TROCHAIC MEASURES. 

687. Trochaic Monometer, with 690. Trochaic Tetrameter 657 

the Trochaic Formula . . 655 691. Trochaic Pentameter 657 

688. Trochaic Dimeter 655 692. Trochaic Hexameter 658 

689. Trochaic Trimeter 656 693. Trochaic Heptameter. 658 

ANAPESTIC MEASURES. 

694. Anapestic Monometer .... 658 696. Anapestic Trimeter 659 

695. Anapestic Dimeter 659 697. Anapestic Tetrameter 659 

AMPHIBRACH MEASURES. 

698. Amphibrach Monometer . . 660 700. Amphibrach Trimeter 660 

699. x\mphibrach Dimeter 660 701. Amphibrach Tetrameter . . 661 



CONTENTS. 



XXlll 



DACTYLIC MEASURES. 

Section Page Section Page 

702. Dactylic Monometer, with 704. Dactylic Trimeter 663 

Dactylic Formula 661 705. Dactylic Tetrameter 663 

703. Dactylic Dimeter 662 706. Dactylic Hexameter 663 



CHAPTER III. 



COMBINED 

707. The Spenserian Stanza 663 

708. Gay's Stanza 664 

709. Elegiac Octosyllabics 664 

710. Octosyllabic Couplets 664 

711. Octosyllabic Triplets 664 

712. Heroic Couplets 665 

713. Heroic Triplets 665 

714. Elegiac Heroics 665 

715. Rhyme Royal 665 



MEASURES. 

716. Ottava Rima 665 

717. Terza Rima 666 

718. Alexandrines 666 

719. Ballad Stanza 666 

720. Rhombic Measures 666 

721. Common Meter 667 

722. Long Meter 667 

723. Short Meter 667 

724. Hallelujah Meter 667 



PUNCTUATION. 



725. Definition 668 

726. The Comma 668 

727. The Semicolon 670 

728. The Colon 671 

729. The Period 671 

730. The Dash 671 

731. The Interrogation Point . . 672 

732. The Exclamation Point. . . 672 

733. The Parenthesis 672 

734. The Brackets 672 

735. The Apostrophe 672 

736. The mark of Accent 672 



737. The Caret 672 

738. The Hyphen 672 

739. The Marks for the Long and 

Short Vowels 673 

740. The Diaeresis 674 

741. The Paragraph 674 

742. The Section 674 

743. Quotation Marks 674 

744. The Index 674 

745. The Ellipsis 674 

746. The Asterisk, &c. . . ..... 674 

747. Capital Letters 674 



THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 



PART I. 

THE ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 



CHAPTER I. 

GENERAL RELATIONS OF LANGUAGE, 



DEFINITION OF LANGUAGE. 

§ 1. Language, from the Latin word lingua^ the tongue, 
through the French langage, is the utterance of articulate 
sounds of the human voice for the expression of thought. 

Besides spoken language, there is likewise what is called 
natural language. The external sign of the internal move- 
ment of the mind, called by Cicero the sermo corporis^, is 
known and read of all men. The signs by which the intern- 
al thoughts and feelings can be announced are of three class- 
es : 1. Modification of the features of the face, as when a 
frown expresses anger. 2. Variation of the limbs or ges- 
tures of the body, as when the upraised clinched fist express- 
es a threat. 3. Modulations of the voice, as when a groan 
expresses pain. 

But these various classes of natural signs, though they 
constitute a universal language, furnish a mode of commu- 
nication but little above what brutes enjoy. Much, indeed, 
was accomplished by the ancient pantomimes, as likewise 
much has been done by actors, and by the teachers of deaf 

B 



IS GENERAL RELATIONS OF LANGUAGE. 

mutes. But how entirely inadequate are these natural signs, 
even in their most improved mode of use, to answer the ends 
to which speech is subservient ! In the articulate sounds of 
the human voice are materials furnished by nature for form- 
ing a collection of signs fit to express the thoughts and emo- 
tions of the human mind. Brutes utter certain sounds in- 
dicating their feelings ; but these sounds are vocal, not ar- 
ticulate. They are not divided by consonants. This dis- 
tinctive characteristic of human speech is alluded to in the 
Homeric phrase, II., b. i., fieponuv dvdpoynQVy " articulate- 
speaking or speech-dividing men." 

THE ORIGIN OF LANGUAGE. 

§ 2. As to the origin of language, three opinions have been 
maintained. 1. That language was the pure gift of God, 
conveyed in vocal sounds to the listening ear, as from a 
teacher to a pupil. 2. That it was the invention of man, 
contrived for the purpose of communication. 3. That it was 
neither the pure gift of God nor an invention of man, but 
the spontaneous result of his organization, just as reason is. 

The argument for this last opinion is physiological. It is 
derived from the structure of the organs of speech, and from 
the adaptation of the soul to every part of the body, to the 
tongue as well as to the hand. In thus creating the soul to 
act in and through the body, the Deity conferred on man, 
from the first, the power of speech, so that language is the 
necessary result of his constitution, and human speech and 
human nature are inseparable. Thus constituted, thus en- 
dowed by his Creator with the gift of speech, the First Fa- 
ther of our race was qualified from the first to give names 
to the animals which his Creator '' brought before him to see 
what names he would give them." And, inasmuch as speech 
is but the image of the mind, we may believe that, impressed 
by some prominent attribute in each animal, he gave a name 
imaging his impression. According to this view, language 
is not the result of compact on the part of many, nor of in- 
ventive contrivance on the part of some individual, but is a 
natural phenomenon of the race. It is an emanation from 
the common soul of man, through the organs of the body, in 



THE ORIGIN OF LANGUAGE. 



19 



obedience to laws as necessary as the laws which govern any 
other mental operation. 

Whether language was thus developed, as from a germ 
or pre-existing type, within the soul, or, according to the 
first opinion, was a pure gift supernaturally bestowed upon 
man at some period subsequent to his creation, are questions 
that have not been settled to the entire satisfaction of every 
competent inquirer. That it was the invention of man, con- 
trived for the purpose of mutual communication, is incredi- 
ble. On the contrary, the declaration of William von Hum- 
boldt we can readily admit. " According to my fullest con- 
viction, speech must be regarded as naturally inherent in 
man ; for it is altogether inexplicable as a work of his un- 
derstanding in its simple consciousness. We are none the 
better for allowing thousands and thousands of years for its 
invention. There could be no invention of language unless 
its type already existed in the human understanding. Man 
i§ man only by means of speech, but in order to invent 
speech he must be already man." 

Whatever was the origin of language, it is not to be sup- 
posed that the vocabulary possessed by the first generation 
was more extensive than was necessary to express the ideas 
they wished to communicate. In the progress of society, as 
new ideas were originated, new words would be invented, 
just as words are now invented when they are needed to ex- 
press new ideas. That, from the first, a connection may ex- 
ist between the objective word and the subjective idea, though 
we do not understand the nature of that connection, is just 
as evident as that there is a connection between the body and 
the soul, though the nature of this connection is not under- 
stood. Indeed, we know that there is a natural connection 
in the ease of those words, namely, onomatopoetic, which in 
pronunciation imitate the sounds which they indicate, the 
sounds being, in other words, an echo to the sense ; and v/e 
can infer some such a connection as to large classes of other 
words. 



20 GENERAL RELATIONS OF LANGUAGE. 



THE UNITY OF LANGUAGE. 

§ 3. The original unity of language is indicated, 1. By 
the supposed unity of the human race, of which there is sat- 
isfactory evidence. 2. By the declaration in Genesis, that 
the whole earth was '' of one language and one speech." 
8. By the analogies and affinities among the different lan- 
guages, pointing to a common origin. 

Affinities among languages may be seen either in their 
similarity of construction, in which case the proof is gram- 
matical, or in the similarity of words themselves, in which 
case the proof is lexical. Of the former kind of proof the 
Comparative Grammar of Bopp furnishes examples. Occa- 
sional examples will be given in the part on etymology in 
this work. Only the latter kind of proof can be here adduced, 
as sufficiently satisfactory and more convenient. When, for 
instance, in Sanscrit we find nama, and in Latin nomen, 
both meaning name ; nasa in the one, nasus in the other, 
both meaning nose ; and when we find this similarity be- 
tween a great many words in the two languages, we are nec- 
essarily led to infer that a relationship exists between the 
two languages. The same kind of reasoning may be ex- 
tended to several languages to prove an affinity between 
them. 

DECLENSION IN THE GOTHIC LANGUAGES, SHOWING 
THEIR AFFINITY. 

Eng. A.-S. But Frs. Ger. M<bs. 

Afish, fiac, visch, fisk, fisch, fisk-s, 

AJish's, fisc-es, visch-es, fisk-es, fisch-es, fisk-is, 

To afish, fisc-e, visch-e, fisk-e, fisch-e, fisk-a, 

Afish, fisc, visch, fisk, fisch, fisk, 

Fishes, fisc-as, visch-en, fisk-ar, fisch-e, fisk-os. 

Fishes', fisc-a, visch-en, fisk-a, fisch-e, fisk-e, 

Tofishes, fisc-um, visch-en, fisk-um, fisch-en. fisk-en, fisk-e, fisk-ar, fisk-um. 

Fishes, fisc-as, visch-en, fisk-ar, fisch-e, fisk-ans, fisk-e, fisk-ar, fisk-a. 



Dan, 


Swed. 


IceL 


fisk. 


fisk. 


fisk-r. 


fisk-s, 


fisk-s, 


fisk-s. 


fisk. 


fisk, 


fisk-i. 


fisk. 


fisk. 


fisk. 


fisk-e, 


fisk-ar. 


fisk-ar. 


fisk-es. 


fisk-ars, 


fisk-a. 



NUMERALS. 



21 














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^ 


^ 


v:3 


^e 


02 


'ot 


03 H 


is 


Xa ::3 


xi 






f^iA^s 




















J 










_^ 




a CO !> 


"^ 


■s 15 






•S 


c«.2 




03 


•S 


s 


s 


^ 


-S 13 





1 


Ti 


>^ > 


"S 


^ 


i^ 


^ 


(D 


w p 


^ 


«3 'C 


o 


rdXJ 


O 


&. 


to 


CQ 


t*^^ 


13 


13 *2 


m 






wv«w 












^-v~• 




^■^'^^s ^-..A.^ 






























C3 






53 


S 


1 


'S 




1 


rs-S 13 •§ 


i5 

a 


:s 


d 


'S 


1 


0) 


t? 


CD 


42 >• 


CO 

03 


•^ a .2 a 


h^ 


13 


rJai 


a, 


m 


OT 


c3 -d 


13 


13 +3 


s 




-•w^ 


^^ 










.-OA,-^ 












li 


O O 




1 


CD 

.s 


X 


S c^ 

J B 


a 
5 g 


a 

CD 



•■*3 c ti .a 

S'bn -S bD 

Sec ^a 


G 
G 




e =3 


•c 


a 


'B 


® 


(D a> 





(D 


•2^.=: -p-S 


CD 




o o 


-1 X) 


cr- 


a< 


ra 


cc CO 


i=i 


T3 















, -^ s 














— 






















« 


i 








Q. C5. Q. 

e e g CL 
K to t> o. » 


tit 




^a 


-3^ 


C3 


y ^^ 


^0 
t- I- 


a 




o 




[: b to to^ to 


^ ,=5- 


I- 


I- S 


ii 


-a « 








e- 


Tl^rrs 




^ 


•<0 


^0 -w 


ID 


^^ 










V ^ ^ 












v,^».V-"te^ 


— v-- 










~ :■ ■ ■ jh 
























^ 
a 




pCj 




^ 








e 


r^ 




-g 




•? 


O) 


<ti 


-g ^ 


^ 


.2 


13 


pL, 


:i 


^ 


<D 


,C5 


CD 


2 2 


O) 


ccJ 




>. 


n3 


CQ 


o 


A 


_M_ 


XS 


^ fl 


t3 


JD to 


!» 








!-i 


a 










C3 




1 




g 


•S 

^ 


C(3 

1 


1 




(3 

03 

f 


"m o3 


03 


1 1 


i 




C3 


n3 


O 


ttr 


O 


J3 


03 G 


Ti 


t> ^ 


CO 


■| 








B 


C2 


-S 


1 


-2 5 


C3 


1 S 

G .a 


a 


s 


CS 


•^ 




cS 


C 


03 


Oh 


rj > 


w 


S 




ril4 


'S 


,rf 


rt 


^ 


O 


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03 


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ns 


o 


G. 


CO 


CO 


ca S 


13 


>• -M 


m 



22 



GENERAL RELATIONS OF LANGUAGE. 



PERSONAL PRONOUNS, 



Sanscrit 


Zend. 


Greek. 


Latm. 


Moeso-Gotbic. 


Lithuanic. 


Slavoiac. 


English. 


aham 

tvam 
tv^rm 


liii 


eyuv 

row 
re 


ego 
me 
tu 
te 


ik 

mik 
^uk 


asz 

manen 
iix 
tawen 


az 
mja 

ty 
tja 


L 

me. 

thou. 

thee. 



DECLENSION OF THE SECOND PERSONAL PRONOUN. 



SINGULAR. { 


Sanscrit. 


Zend. 


Greek. 


Latin. 


Mceso- 
Gothic. 


Lithua- 
nian. 


Old 
SlaTonic. 


Old High 
German. 


Rna- 1 
sian. I 


Nom 


. twam 


turn 


row, ri) 


tu 


thu 


tu 


ty 


du 


tti 


Acc. 


< twam 
\ twa 


thwamn ) 
thw& 5 


re 


te 


thuk 


tawen 


tja 


dih 


tebya 


Gen. 


j tava 
\ tw6, t6 


tava, toi > 
thivoi,te j 


rev 


tui, tis 


theina 


tawens 


tebe 


diu 


tebya 


Dat. 


5 tubhyam 
\ thw6, t6 


thivoijte ) 
toi 5 


retv, rot 


tibi 


thus 


taw 


tebje, ti 


dir 


tebe 


PLURAL. J 


Nom 


i yuyam 
■ \ yushme 


yuehem 
yus 


vn/xeo ) 
v/ieig 5 


vos 


egus 


jus 


vy 


ir 


vvi 


Acc. 


< yushman ) 
I vas } 


vo I 


Vfidc 5 


vos 


izvis 


jus 


vy 


iwih 


vas 


Gen. 


1 yushmakam 

'\ vas 


yusmdkem 
vo 


VJUfi£0)V 
V/lfiLV 
VJlfli ) 

vfiiv 5 


vestri ) 
vestrum j 


izvava 


jusu 


vas 


iwar 


vas 


Dat. 


1 yushmabhy- 
' vas [am 


yusmae- ) 
iba S 


vobis 


izvis Ijumus 


vam 


iu 


vam 



MISCELLANEOUS EXAMPLES. 



English. 


Sanscrit. 


Greek. 


Latin. 


Slavonic. 


Gothic. 


Celtic. 


Father 


pitri 


Trdrep 


pater 


bat 


O.H.G.va,tar 


Er. athair. 




Z.paitar 








L. G. 


fader 






P. pader 














Mother 


matri 


fidrsp 


mater 


mater 


G. 


mutter 


Er. mathair 


Brother 


bbratri 
Z. bratar 
P. brader 


/ivrep 
(ppdrep 


frater 


brat 


M.G. 


brothar 


Er. brathair. 


Sister 


swasri 




soror 


sestra 


M.G. 
G. 


swistar 
schwester 


Er. suir. 


Eye 


akshi 


OKKO 


oculo 


oko 


M.G. 


augo 




Sun 


heli 


TjXlO 

vvKr 


sol 


Lith. saule 


M.G. 


sauil 


W. haul. 


Night 


nisa 


noct 


noc 


M.G. 


nahts 


Er. nochd. 




naktam 






Lith. naktis 
Lett, nakts 
Russ. notch 


G. 


nacht 


W. nos. 


Day 


dyu 


6to 


diu 

diurno 

die 


deu 
Lith. diena 
Lett, deena 


M.G. 


dags 


Er. di, dia. 


Young 


yuvan 




juveni 


januu 


G. 


yung 


W. jau. 


To think 


man 


/lev 


mm or men 


nyen 


G. 


memen 


W. menu. 




manas 


/ii/iv^aK 


memini 


Lith. men 


Eng. 


mean 


(mind). 




(mind) 
















Z. man. 















THE PRIMITIVE LANGUAGE, ETC. 23 



THE PRIMITIVE LANGUAGE. 

§ 5. If all languages descended from a common parent, 
then the question which of them is the primitive language 
may be dismissed as unworthy of investigation. 

The affiliation of languages is one thing, their parentage 
another. Now the older linguists, when they found certain 
words to be the same in two languages, concluded that one 
must be the parent of the other, when, in fact, they were 
only sister languages, moving along side by side from a com- 
mon source, developing themselves under the influence of 
various causes found in nature and society. Instead of en- 
deavoring to discover whether the Hebrew, or the Dutch, or 
some other was the primitive language, Grotius seems to 
have adopted the true view, namely, that the primitive lan- 
guage is not extant any where in a pure state, but that its 
remains exist in all languages. 

On the supposition that all languages have a common 
origin, we should expect that words of prime necessity, being 
brought into use before the dispersion of mankind, would 
still, if any, be found existing in the several languages ; and 
such is the fact. Thus, words used as numerals, and those 
used to express the nearest and dearest relations, like father 
and mother, extensively resemble eacli other. 

DIVERSITIES IN LANGUAGES. 

§ 6. While affinities among languages have to be sought 
with painful care, diversities are obvious, and have to be ac- 
counted for. 

When men speaking the same language separate into 
families and tribes, causes are brought into operation which 
will, in thb progress of time, produce a diversity of language. 
These causes are, 1. Difference of occupation. 2. Difference 
of improvement in sciences and the arts of life. 8. Differ- 
ence of climate, both by bringing different classes of objects 
before the mind and by producing different effects upon the 
organs of speech. Hence it happens that, when two races 
of men of a common stock are placed in distant countries, 
the language of each begins to diverge from that of the other 



24 GENERAL RELATIONS OF LANGUAGE. 

by various means. 1. One will suffer one word to become 
obsolete and forgotten ; the other will suffer the loss of an- 
other. 2. The same word will be differently applied by two 
distant races of men, and the difference will be so great as 
to obscure the original affinity. 3. Words will be compound- 
ed by two nations in a different manner. 4. The pronunci- 
ation and orthography of the same word will be different. — 
Webster's Dictionary, Preface. These statements appear to 
be sustained by facts. On the authority of Rask, the an- 
cient Scandinavian, the Danska Tunge, was, in the ninth 
century, the common speech in Iceland, Denmark, Sweden, 
and Norway, where now there are great diversities. The 
progress of these diversities can be satisfactorily traced from 
that period to the present time. These diversities extend to 
all those features in which it is possible for one language to 
differ from another ; viz., to words, grammar, inflections, ar- 
rangement of words in sentences. " In the various king- 
doms and provinces in which it was once spoken, different 
portions of the parent speech have been abandoned or pre- 
served." Hence it follows that the primitive language of 
Scandinavia, or " Danska Tunge," does not exist entire in 
any one, but is dispersed in all its derivative dialects, illus- 
trating the fate of the primitive language of the world, as in- 
timated by Grotius. See § 5. 

Three opinions have existed in respect to the origin of the 
diversities in languages. One has just been stated. A sec- 
ond proceeds on the supposition that there were originally sev- 
eral distinct stocks of the human race, and as many distinct 
languages as stocks. The third is formed on the supposition 
that the confusion of tongues at the Tower of Babel, by its 
miraculous agency, will account for all the diversities in hu- 
man language ; just as the flood has by some been considered 
as a cause adequate to the production of certain geological ir- 
regularities which are found in the structure of the earth. 

The first of these opinions is at present the current one, 
supported, as it seems to be, by increasing evidence. But 
in candor it ought to be confessed, that between certain lan- 
guages and certain other languages no affinities have been 
discovered which indicate an original unity. 



CLASSIFICATION OF LANGUAGES. £5 

The general topic of this section can be fitly closed by a 
quotation from that distinguished philosopher, William von 
Humboldt : '' The true solution of the contrast of stability 
and fluctuation which we find in language lies in the unity 
of human nature P '' No one assigns precisely the same 
meaning to a word which another does, and a shade of mean- 
ing, be it ever so slight, ripples on like a circle in the water 
through the entirety of language. The power of speech may 
be regarded as physiological effect ; that proceeding from the 
individual as a purely dynamical one." " We must regard 
speech not so much as a dead begotten^ but rather a beget- 
ting ; we must abstract from what it is as a designation of 
objects, and a help to the understanding ; on the contrary, we 
must go back more carefully to a consideration of its origin, 
so nearly connected with the subjective mental activity, and 
to its reciprocal action thereupon." ^' Even its preservation 
by means of writing keeps it only in an incomplete, mum- 
my-like fashion, in which it can get vitality only by timely 
recitation. In itself it is not an epyov, but an evipyeiaJ^ 

CLASSIFICATION OF LANGUAGES. 

§ 7. A classification of languages can be made only so far 
as the affinities and diversities among languages are known. 
In the present state of comparative philology, a full classifi- 
cation of all the languages spoken is out of the question. 
So little is known of the Chinese, the Japanese, the Tartar, 
the Malay, and of many other languages, that only a gener- 
al classification can be expected until the study of ethnog- 
raphy shall throw additional light upon comparative philology. ■ 

BALBl's CLASSIFICATION. 

§ 8. I. European, subdivided into six families : 1. The 
Basque or Iberian, including the Basque or Escuera ; 2. The 
Celtic, comprising the Gaelic, or Irish, or Erse, the Cym- 
raeg, &c. ; 3. The Thraco-Pelasgic, or Grceco-Latin, com- 
prising the Albanian, Etruscan, Greek, Latin, Romance, 
Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, &o. ; 4. The German- 
ic, comprising the old High Dutch, the modern High Dutch, 
or German, the Frisic, the Neider Dutch or Low Dutch of 



26 GENERAL RELATIONS OF LANGUAGE. 

Holland, &c., the Moeso-Gothic, Swedish, Danish, Anglo- 
Saxon, English, &c. ; 5. The ^lavonic^ comprising the Illyr- 
ian, Russian, Cheskian, Polish, Lithuanian, &c. ; 6. The 
Ouralian^ comprising the Finnish, Lapland, Cheremisse, 
Permian, Magyar or Hungarian. 

n. Asiatic, subdivided into seven families : 1. The Be* 
mitic, comprising the Arabic, Hebrew, Chaldee, &c. ; 2. The 
Caucasian, comprising the Georgian, Armenian, &c.; 3. The 
Persian, comprising the Zend, Parsee, modern Persian, &c. ; 

4. The Indian, comprising the Sanscrit, with the Pali and 
Hindostanee, and the Malabar or Maleyalam, with the Ta- 
mul, Telinga, &c. ; 5. The Trans gangetic Indian, com- 
prising the Tibetan, Chinese, Japanese, Lass-Siamite, An- 
amite, and Rukheng-Barma ; 6. The Tartar, comprising the 
Tongouse, Mandchou, Tartar or Mongul, Kalmuc, Turkey, 
Yakoute, &c. ; 7. The Siberian, comprising the Samoied, 
Yenesei, Koriak, Kamtskadale, Kourilian, &c. 

in. African, subdivided into five families : 1. The Egyp* 
tian, comprising the Coptic and other languages spoken along 
the course of the Nile, the Nubian, the Troglodytic, the Bish- 
arian, &c. ; 2. The Atlantean, comprising the Amazique, 
Ertana, Tibboo, Guanche, &c. ; 3. The Maritime Nigritian, 
comprising the Mandigo with the Soosoo, &c. ; the Ashantee 
with the Intor, &c. ; the Ardrajidah with the Benin, the 
Foulah, WolofF, Serere, &c. ; 4. The South African, com- 
prising the Congo, Loango, KafFer, Beshuana, Hottentot, 
Saab, Monomotapa, Maeonas, Galla, Somauli, Hurrur, &c. ; 

5. The Inland Nigritian, comprising the Haoussan, Bornou- 
an, Timbuctoo, Maniana, Kallogi, Baghermeh, &c. 

IV. American, subdivided into eleven families : 1; Esqui- 
maux ; 2. Northwestern regions ; 3. The region of the AUe- 
ganies and the Lakes ; 4. The regions of the Missouri and 
Mississippi; 5. The central plateau; 6. Anahuac or Mexi- 
can ; 7. Guatemala ; 8. The region of the Orinoco and Am- 
azon ; 9. Guarani-Brazilian ; 10. Peruvian; 11. Southern 
regions of South America, Araucana, Patagonia. 

V. Oceanic, subdivided into two families : 1. The Malay ^ 
sian, comprising the Grand Oceanic, Vulgar Javan, Basa- 
Krama, Malay, Acheen, Birna, Bugi, Macassar, Tagalog, Bis- 



SCHLEGEL'S CLASSIFICATION. £7 

sayo, Mindinao, Chamorie Radak, New Zealand, Tonga, Ta- 
hitian. Sandwich, Sidea Madecasse, &c. ; 2. The Oceanic 
Negroes^ the Tembora, Sidney, Dory, Tana, Pelew, &c. 

Of these languages, fifteen are spoken or understood by a 
great number of persons, or, rather, extend their domain over 
a great number of countries. Of these general languages six 
are Asiatic , viz. : Chinese, Arabic, Turkish, Persian, He- 
brew, Sanscrit ; eight European, viz. : German, English^ 
French, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Greek, Latin \ one, 
the fifteenth, belongs to Oceanica. 

It has been found that the average number of persons 
speaking the same language is greatest in the most civilized 
of the divisions, thus indicating a tendency in civilization to- 
ward a unity of language. This tendency is strongly man- 
ifested in the most civilized nations of Europe, the English, 
the French, the Germanic nations, inasmuch as science, trav- 
el, and commerce produce intercourse with each other. The 
ancient tendency was to diversity, the modern is to unity of 
language. 

schlegel's classification. 

§ 9. The following classification, proposed by A. W. von 
Schlegel, and adopted by Bopp, is in a high degree logical and 
satisfactory : I. Languages with monosyllabic roots, but in 
capable of composition, and therefore v/ithout grammar or or 
ganization. To this class belong the Chinese, in which W(t 
have nothing but naked roots, and the predicates and oilier 
relations of the subject are determined merely by the posi- 
tion of words in the sentence. II. Languages with mono- 
syllabic roots, which are susceptible of composition, and of 
which the grammar and organization depend entirely on this. 
In this class the leading principle of the formation of words 
lies in the connection of verbal and pronominal roots, which 
in combination form the body and the soul of the language. 
To this belongs the Sanscrit family and all other languages 
not included under I. and III., and preserved in such a state 
that the forms of the words may still be resolved into their 
simplest elements. III. Languages vrhich consist of dissyl- 
labic verbal roots, and require three consonants as the vehi- 



28 GENERAL RELATIONS OF LANGUAGE. 

cles of their fundamental signification. This class contains 
the Shemitic languages only ; its grammatical forms are 
produced not merely by composition, as is the case with the 
second, but also by means of a simple modification of roots. 

THE SHEMITIC LANGUAGES. 

§ 10. The Shemitic languages have by philologists been 
long classed together as one tribe or family, because there is 
a diversity between them and other languages. Spoken by 
the descendants of Shem, from which circumstance they de- 
rive their name, they were native in Palestine, Phoenicia, 
Syria, Mesopotamia, and Arabia, from the Mediterranean to 
the Tigris, and from the Armenian Mountains to the south 
coast of Arabia. The Shemitic class of languages consists of 
three principal divisions. 1. The Arabic ; to this belongs 
the Ethiopic, as a branch of the southern Arabic ; 2. The 
Aramean, in the north and northeast. It is called Syriac in 
the form in which it appears in the Christian Aramean, but 
Chaldee as it appears in the Aramean writings of the Jews. 
To the Chaldee is closely allied the Samaritan, both exhibit- 
ing frequent admixture of Hebrew forms ; 3. The Hebrew, 
with which the Canaanitish and Phoenician stand in connec- 
tion. — Conant's Hebrew Grammar. With the ancient Egyp- 
tian, from which the Coptic is derived, the Shemitic came in 
many ways into contact in very early times. The Coptic, 
therefore, has much in common with the Shemitic. 

Some of the peculiarities of the Shemitic class are : 1. Most 
of the radical words consist of three consonants. 2. The verb 
has only two tenses, the preterite and the future. 3. The 
noun has only two genders. 4. Scarcely any compounds ap- 
pear in verbs or nouns except proper names. 5. Only the 
consonants were given in the line as real letters. Of the 
vowels, only the longer ones, and even these not always, were 
represented by certain consonants. 6. These languages, with 
the exception of the Ethiopic, are always written from right 
to left. The Shemitic languages are adapted to narration, 
to poetry, to the description of objective realities, but not to 
the exhibition of subjective experience, the deductions of log- 
ic, or the truths of philosophy. 



INDO-EUROPEAN OR JAPHETIC LANGUAGES. £9 



THE INDO-EUROPEAN OR JAPHETIC LANGUAGES. 

§ 11. The principal Indo-European languages are the San- 
scrit, the Zend, the Latin, the Greek, the Celtic, the Goth- 
ic, the Slavonic, and the Lithuanic. 

In comparison with the Shemitic, the family bond which 
embraces this race of languages is not less universal, but in 
most of its bearings of a quality infinitely more refined. 
" The members of this race inherited, from the period of their 
earliest youth, endowments of exceeding richness, and with 
a system of unlimited composition and agglutination. Pos- 
sessing much, they are able to bear the loss of much, and 
yet to retain their local life." — Bopp's Comparative Gram- 
mar. The received opinion is that these languages took 
their common origin from a language spoken somewhere in 
the central or southern part of Asia, and that they spread 
from thence into Europe. Hence the term Indo-European. 

The members of this family are descended from a common 
parent, namely, a language spoken by a race occupying a re- 
gion in Central or Southern Asia, not far from the birth-place 
of man. , 

1. The Sanscrit stock. This is the ancient language 
derived from that common parent, and is itself the mother 
of the languages of India. The name is from sam^ " alto- 
gether," dcndikrita, "done," ''completely done," "perfected." 
This very name points to an antecedent state of the tongue, 
before it had become settled, and not entitled to the appella- 
tion " completely formed." It has five vowels, twenty-three 
consonants, and an alphabet of fifty characters. It has three 
numbers, three genders, eight cases ; namely, the nomina- 
tive, vocative, dative, accusative, ablative, locative, instru- 
mental, and genitive. It has two voices ; one of which, the 
active, has two forms, one of them being reflective, corre- 
sponding to the middle voice in Greek. It has ten conjuga- 
tions, ^YQ modes, six tenses, all formed by inflection. Its 
Syntax is logical and simple. It is itself a dead language, 
and is studied in India as the Latin and the Greek are 
with us. It is regarded as the most composite, flexible, 
and complete language known. It was spoken only by the 



30 GENERAL RELATIONS OF LANGUAGE. 

privileged classes, while the common people spoke the Pa- 
crit^ the ^< spontaneous" tongue. The Vedas, the Laws of 
Menu, the Sacontala, are among the works extant in this 
language. 

2. The Zend or Iranian stock. This is the ancient lan- 
guage of Persia, the sacred idiom of the Magi and of Zoroas- 
ter. Coming from the same source as the Sanscrit, it spread 
itself among the worshipers of the Sun, and is the parent of 
the several dialects now spoken in Persia. It was in this 
language that the Zendavesta was composed by Zoroaster, 
fragments of which still remain. 

3. The Latin and Greeks or the classical stock. These, 
called the classical languages, were spoken by those whose 
ancestors, at some remote period, came from Asia, and spread 
themselves in successive waves along the northern shores and 
islands of the Mediterranean, from the regions east of Greece 
to the west of Italy. The Latin is the mother tongue of the 
Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, the Wallachian, Pro- 
vencal ; the Greek, of the modern Greek (or Eomaic). 

4. The Celtic stock of languages. These languages were 
spoken by the Celts, who are supposed to have migrated from 
Asia at some early period, and to have been impelled onward 
by successive emigrations until they found their way to Gaul 
and Great Britain. 

5. The Gothic stock. The Gothic tribes followed the 
Celts as early as 680 B.C. The language which their de- 
scendants spoke was divided into, first, the Teutonic, spoken 
in Germany ; secondly, the Scandinavian, spoken in Den- 
mark, Norway, and Sweden. 

6. The Slo,vonic stock. These languages were spoken 
by those immigrating tribes which came out of Asia about 
450 B.C., and who were the ancestors of the Russians, Poles, 
and Bohemians. 

7. The Lithuanic stock of languages. This contains the 
Lithuanic of Lithuania, the old Prussian of Prussia, and the 
Littish or Livonic of Courland and Livonia. 

§ 12. The real origin of the English language is on the 
Continent of Europe, and its real affinities are with lan- 
guages there spoken. The native country of the English 



INDO-EUROPEAN OR JAPHETIC LANGUAGES. 21 

language is Germany, and the Germanic languages are 
those which are most closely connected with our own. In 
Germany, languages and dialects allied to each other and to 
the mother tongue of the English have been spoken from 
times anterior to history. 

§ 13. The Teutonic branch of the Gothic stock falls into 
three divisions : the Moeso-Gothic, the High Germanic, and 
the Low Germanic. 1. No modern German dialect repre- 
sents the Moeso-Gothic. The Gospel translation of Ulphilas, 
a celebrated bishop of the Moeso-Goths, referable to the 
fourth century, is the chief datum for researches into this im- 
portant language. This is the most ancient specimen of any 
German tongue whatever. 2. The High Germanic, to which 
the current German of the present day belongs, is bounded 
east by Lithuanic, Slavonic, and Hungarian languages ; 
while on the south it touches the Italian and French, and 
on the north it joins the Low Germanic division. 3. The 
Low Germanic comprises the Anglo-Saxon and the modern 
English, the old Frisian and the modern Dutch, the old Sax- 
on, the Piatt Deutsch or Low German, the words being used 
in a restricted sense. The Anglo-Saxon, the old Saxon, and 
the Frisian are closely related to the English. 

§ 14. The Scandinavian branch of the Gothic stock com- 
prehends, 1. The languages of Scandinavia proper, the Nor- 
wegian and Swedish. 2. Of the Danish Isles and Jutland. 
3. Of Iceland. 4. Of the Ferroe Isles. 

§ 15. The term Gothic is taken from the name of those 
German tribes who, during the decline of the Roman empire, 
were best known to the Romans. The older writers say 
that it is derived from the word Gothl=:goodl or brave. 

§ 16. The term German is a name given by the Romans 
to the natives of the country called Germania. It was first 
applied to proper Germanic tribes in the time of Julius Cae- 
sar, and it served to distinguish the Gothic Germans from 
the Celtic Gauls. The general power of the word has been 
limited to the Germans of Germany. Neither English nor 
Scandinavian writers call their countrymen Germani. The 
two German tribes most generally meant when the word 
German is used in a limited sense, are the Franks and the 



32 GENERAL RELATIONS OF LANGUAGE. 

Alemanni. The word has by some been supposed to be con- 
nected with the Latin word germani=^br others^ tribes in 
brotherly alliance with the Romans. Others derive it from 
gar=a dart^ and man=dart'man. 

§ 17. The term Dutch with us means the people or the lan- 
guage of Holland. In Germany, Holland, and Scandinavia, 
it means the language or people of Germany ; and the gener- 
al power of the word is retained even with us in the expres- 
sions High Dutch, Low Dutch. The word is derived from 
peuda=^2i nation or people. O. H. G. Deutisc ; A. S. jDeo- 
disk; \k. Theodisca ; It. Tedesco ; Dan. Tyske ; 'Ei. Dutch. 

The word Teutonicus was introduced by Latin writers 
about the tenth century, as more classical than Theotiscus. 
It is derived, according to Grimm, from the Gentile name of 
the Teutones conquered by Marius. 

§ 18. Anglo-Saxon. In the ninth century the language 
of England was Angle or English. The lingua Anglorum 
of Bede is translated by Alfred on Englisce. The term Sax- 
on was in use at an early date : fures quos Saxonice dici- 
miis vergeldpeovas. The compound term Anglo-Saxon is 
later. — Grimm, Introduction to Third edition of D. G., p. 2. 

THE HYPOTHESIS OF AN ABORIGINAL FINNIC PEOPLE. 

§ 19. This hypothesis is grounded upon the following lines 
of reasoning : In the Celtic stock it is the Gaelic branch 
that is oldest, and in the Gothic stock the Scandinavian is 
anterior to the Teutonic. Of the two divisions the Low Ger- 
man is the most ancient. The Hellenic branch is younger 
than the Italian. With the antiquity of a language its geo- 
graphical position coincides ; in other words, the older lan- 
guages lie either west or north of the newer ones. The east 
is the fountain-head of the Indo-European. The Celtic stock 
(its Gaelic branch going first) was driven westward by the 
Low Germanic branch of the Gothic stock. The Low Ger- 
mans were pressed upon by the High, and these by the Sla- 
vonic nations. The pressure forced the retirers either west- 
ward, northward, or to mountain fastnesses. The aborig- 
ines of Europe were Finnic tribes. Of these the Laps and 
proper Finlanders were pressed northward. The Basques 



THE BIRTH-PLACE OF LANGUAGE. 33 

withdrew to the Pyrenees. Just as in Scandinavia there 
was a Lappish race anterior to the immigration of the Goths, 
so there was the same in Britain. 

THE BIRTH-PLACE OF LANGUAGE. 

§ 20. The birth-place of language is the birth-place of the 
kjirnan race. Sir Humphry Davy surmised that this lo- 
cality must be somewhere near the tropics, in a genial cli- 
mate. Sir William Jones fixed upon Persia or Iran. Ade- 
lung has concluded in favor of a contiguous locality ; viz., 
the regions of the Indus, the borders of Cashmere and Thib- 
et. Adelung's grounds for selecting the central Asiatic re- 
gions of Cashmere and Thibet are, 1. Their geographical 
position and high elevation, and the direction of their mount- 
ains and rivers, which render these countries a natural source 
for the diffusion of population over the globe. The high land 
of this region does not sink on one side only^ but on all sides, 
and toward every point of the compass, and toward different 
oceans, to which there is access by extensive river systems. 
2. Their climate and natural productions. At his first cre- 
ation man needed a paradise. To this appellation no coun- 
try in Asia can assert a better claim than the lovely land of 
Cashmere. Owing to its high elevation, the heat of the south 
is tempered into a perpetual spring, and Nature here puts 
forth all her powers to bring all her works, plants, animals, 
and man, to the highest state of perfection. Cashmere is a 
region of fruitful hills, countless fountains and streams, which 
unite in the River Behut, that, like the Pison of Paradise, 
" compasseth" the whole land. The men of this country 
are distinguished among the nations by superior natural en- 
dowments, mental and physical. The contiguous region of 
Thibet, also, presents in a native state the various plants and 
animals which have been domesticated by man. Here are 
found in the wild state the vine, the rice-plant, the pea, the 
ox, the horse, the ass, the sheep, the goat, the camel, the pig, 
the cat, and even the rein-deer, '' his only friend and compan- 
ion in the polar wastes." 3. The ancient Indian accounts, 
which are corroborated by the Scriptural narrative. The In- 
dian accounts, equal in antiquity, it is believed, to the Scrip- 

C 



34 GENERAL RELATIONS OF LANGUAGE. 

tural narrative, actually fix the first abode of man on Mount 
Meru, on the borders of Thibet and Cashmere. Now from 
Mount Meru spring four rivers, the Ganges, the Burampoota, 
the Indus, and another stream v\rhich flows into Thibet. Now 
Michaelis, Adelung observes, translates Genesis, ii., 10, '' Four 
rivers flowed out of Eden, and they separated continually 
more and more widely from each other." 4. In these regions 
is the line which separates from other Asiatic races the na- 
tions who exhibit the Mongul or Tartar physiognomy. 5. 
The same line separates the monosyllabic languages and the 
polysyllabic languages. The former begin in Thibet, the 
latter in Cashmere. 6. The astronomical reasonings of Bail- 
ly, The theory of this astronomer is, that the various na- 
tions of the ancient world were descendants of emigrants from 
a primeval community superior to them in knowledge, and 
of which he places the locality in Central Asia. For a fuller 
exhibition of Adelung's reasoning, see Jones's Philological 
Proofs of the Unity of the Human Race. 

THE VALUE OF LANGUAGE. 

§ 21. The gift of reason to the human race derives its 
great value from the gift of speech. 

Just conceive for a moment of a soul swelling with large 
thoughts and strong emotions in the body of a man with- 
out the gift of utterance. Such a soul, thus confined with- 
in w^alls of flesh, struggling in vain to come forth into com- 
munication with others, must, to a large extent, be isolated 
from human kind. In native intellect he may be angel- 
bright, in affections angel-lovely, but the workings of that in- 
tellect and those affections must be the workins^s of one in 
solitary confinement ; and the consciousness of this impo- 
tence must be, as is the ineffectual struggle to speak when 
the nightmare sits brooding on the sleeper. A single in- 
stance, however, furnishes but a faint illustration of what 
would be the wretched condition of the human family if they 
were all so many mutes. Mutu7n et turpe pecus would 
they be. Being mute, they would, of course, be degraded. 

Speech is the deliverer of the imprisoned soul. It leads 
the thoughts and the emotions into light and liberty. Words 



THE STUDY OF LANGUAGE. 35 

reaching from the speaker's tongue to the listening ear are 
the links of that electric chain upon which thought flies from 
mind to mind, and feeling from heart to heart, through the 
greater or the smaller circles of human society. 

§ 22. The gift of speech to the human race derives its 
permanent value from letters ; or, to use equivalent terms, 
spoken language derives its permanent value from written 
language. 

Summon to your memory some tribe of men gifted like 
others with reason and speech, but without the aid of letters. 
Ho.wever correct and bright their thoughts may be, however 
strong and graceful their emotions, however distinct and elo- 
quent their expression, they must all die with the individual, 
or be but faintly transmitted to future generations, at last to 
fade entirely from the memory of man, or be mingled up with 
fables. But let those same thoughts, and emotions, and ex- 
pressions be recorded by letters and transmitted to the future, 
and they become the seed-corn in the minds of the next gen- 
eration, to bear a glorious harvest of new thoughts and new 
emotions, or, at least, a profitable harvest in the application 
of knowledge to those acts of life which minister to human 
improvement. Vox volat. The voice flies from the lips to 
mingle with the winds, to be lost v/ithout an echo to the 
thought which it conveyed. Scripta manet. Written down, 
it may continue sounding on, as from a trumpet-tongue, 
through all time, speaking still to the common heart of man 
like Homer, or to the conscience like Paul. 

THE STUDY OF LANGUAGE. 

§ 23. There is the same reason for the study of language 
that there is for the study of thought. 

It is by means of language that the thoughts and emo- 
tions of one mind are projected upon another. Language is 
the medium through which the object of thought in the mind 
of the speaker or writer is exhibited to the hearer or the read- 
er, and the object is projected upon the receiving mind in an 
image that is true, distinct, and bright, or in one that is dis- 
torted, blurred, and dim, according as that mind is acquaint- 
ed or not with the medium. If language is only expressed 



36 GENERAL RELATIONS OF LANGUAGE. 

thought, or the '' incarnation of thought," and if thought is 
the copy of things, then the value of things becomes trans- 
ferred to language, or, rather, is connate with it. As a mat- 
ter of fact, so entirely are words the exponents of the thought, 
and purpose, and character of him who uses them, that they 
form the ground of judging of character for ourselves in our 
estimate of each other, and for God in his estimate of us all. 
"By thy words shalt thou be justified, and by thy words 
shalt thou be condemned." It is true that there is a dif- 
ference between words and things as well as an identity. 
"Things are the sons of God, and words are the daughters 
of men ;" still, practically, they are so wedded to each other 
that they are one. 

Such is the connection between w^ords and things, that a 
thorough study of language makes the student acquainted 
both with those minds of which it is the expression and with 
those objects to which it is applied. A language borrows its 
character, first, from the minds of those who use it in view 
of the objects to which it is applied, and, secondly, from the 
objects with which it is associated. The language of a na- 
tion is the accumulation of the experience, the wisdom, and 
the genius of a nation. " The heart of a people is its mother 
tongue," and it is only by learning that mother tongue that 
you can know that heart. It is only while listening to the 
^' thoughts that breathe and the words that burn," from 
the lips of her poets and her orators, her historians and her 
dramatists, that you can feel that heart "beating respon- 
sive." The great events that have shaped the destiny of 
that nation, the master-minds who infused their own spirit 
through the mass of the people, whatever relates to the gov- 
ernment, religion, arts, arms, moral sentiment, and social life, 
you can see distinctly portrayed in the language as you can 
see them nowhere else, even after that nation is extinct, and 
the language itself numbered with the dead. 

It is, too, only by means of their language that we are 
able to trace the history and migration of the early inhabit- 
ants of the world. The study even of the English language, 
developing the meaning of names of the prominent objects 
of nature, which are significant in the Celtic, the solid sub- 



THE STUDY OF LANGUAGE. 



37 



stratum of Teutonic, the terms of war and government in 
the Norman-French, the Latin terms in ecclesiastical use, 
would enable us, in the absence of other histories, to draw 
inferences in respect to the early condition of England, and 
even now enables us to verify many of the doubtful state- 
ments of written history. Even the names of places would 
tell us much. When we hear a stream called Wans-heck- 
water, and know that the three words of ¥/hich the word is 
made up each signify " water," the first being Celtic (as in 
Wansfordy Avon), the second German (beck=back), we at 
once recognize three changes of inhabitants to whom the for- 
mer name successively lost its significance. — See Donaldson's 
New Cratylus. In the flow of centuries, words often lose 
their meaning by being used in new applications. And to 
disinter that meaning out of the alluvium and drift of ages, 
and bring it up to the light, affords as much pleasure to the 
linguist as a disinterred fossil does to the geologist. In dig- 
ging down from the surface to the original meaning of words 
applied first to some physical object, and then to a spiritual 
one, he often meets with this '' fossil poetry," which is to him 
a medal of the nation, or of the race, just as the other is to 
the geologist a '' medal of the creation." The word God 
means the Deity ; but in the original Anglo-Saxon, besides 
this, it also meant g"oo<i, or the Good. The word man in 
English means a human being, but in the Anglo-Saxon orig- 
inal its meaning besides this was sin, or the sinful. The 
full history of language would be a history of the human race. 
The careful study of language can not fail to make the 
student acquainted with the laws of the human mind. The 
origin and formation of words, and the structure of sentences, 
as exhibited in etymology and syntax, taken as a whole, are 
but a counterpart of those mental phenomena which have 
been collected and classified by the masters of mental sci- 
ence. The laws of suggestion, of memory, of imagination, 
of abstraction, of generalization and reasoning, are distinctly 
exhibited, not merely in the higher specimens of eloquence 
and poetry, but also in the common forms of language ; so 
that there is truth in the remark, ''that we might turn a 
treatise on the philosophy of mind into one on the philoso- 



38 GENERAL RELATIONS OF LANGUAGE. 

phy of language by merely supposing that every thing said 
in the former of the thoughts as subjective is said again in 
the latter of the words as objective." 

The study of language is necessary in order to understand 
the influence which language and opinion have upon each other. 
The opinion entertained of an object influences the mind in 
the application of a term to that object, and the term, when 
applied, influences the opinion. Call thunder " the bolt of 
God's wrath," and you excite the emotion of terror, as if it 
were an instrument of destruction. Call it, like the German 
peasant, the " dear thunder," das liebe geivitter. and you ex- 
cite a different emotion. " The good old man is passing along 
the air," <i<?r gute alte fachret. The good old man is God, 
and his passing along the air is thunder. Here God is pre- 
sented to us under the aspect of a benefactor. " From the 
black cloud he makes bare his red, wrathful hand." Here 
God is presented to us under the image of a destroyer. 
When Schiller, in his boyhood, climbed the tree in the thun- 
der-storm, was it not that he might get nearer the good old 
man ? As iilustratino^ the connection between lano:uao:e and 

o Do 

opinion, "It is a significant circumstance that no large so- 
ciety of which the language is not Teutonic (Gothic) has 
ever turned Protestant, and that wherever a language derived 
from ancient Rome is spoken, the religion of modern Rome 
to this day prevails." — Macaulay's England, p. 64. 

A language may be studied either for its own sake as an end, 
or it may be studied for its uses as the means of knowledge. 
To an Englishman or an American the study of the En^ 
glish language offers a two-fold advantage, in the mental dis- 
cipline which it furnishes and in the knowledge which it im- 
parts. The discipline he can obtain without the necessity 
of studying a foreign language, and the knowledge gained is 
knowledge appropriate to him, as it is embodied in his native 
tongue. " If language is the outward appearance of the in- 
tellect of nations ; if their language is their intellect, and 
their intellect their language," then, by studying the English 
language, he becomes acquainted with the intellect of the An- 
glo-Saxon race, while his own intellect is improved by the 
disciplinal process through which the study must lead him. 



THE CELTIC ELEMENT. gQ 



CHAPTER 11. 

THE HISTORICAL ELEMENTS OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 

§ 24. From the views already presented of the relation- 
ship of different languages, we are prepared to understand 
the different Historical or Ethnographical elements which en- 
ter into the composition of the English language. 

THE CELTIC ELEMENT. 

This element came from a race of people called Celts, who 
were the earliest inhabitants of Great Britain of whom we 
have any knowledge. They are supposed to have migrated 
from Asia earlier than any other race, and, after having 
taken possession of Spain and Gaul, to have passed thence 
into Great Britain. It is known that Britain was inhabited 
before the Trojan war, more than twelve hundred years be- 
fore the Christian era, as tin was then brought from Britain 
by the Phoenicians. The Celts were distinguished from the 
Gothic race, as much as the French, their descendants, are 
now from the Germans and Danes. They had not the light 
hair, nor the blue eyes, nor the lofty stature and large limbs 
which are characteristic of those races. They were likewise 
distinguished from them by their religious belief and prac- 
tices. They believed in the immortality and transmigration 
of the soul ; they offered human sacrifices in huge baskets of 
wicker work, containing many individuals, who were burned 
together ; they had a class of men called Druids, as the 
Gothic races had not, and they venerated the mistletoe. 

Of the Celtic stock there are two branches : 1. The Cam- 
brian, or British branch, represented by the present Welsh, 
and containing, besides that language^the Cornish of Cornwall, 
and the Armorican of Bas Bretagne. It is supposed that the 
old British, the ancient language of Gaul, and the Pictish 
were of this branch. 2. The Erse, or Gaelic branch, repre- 



40 THE HISTORICAL ELEMENTS. 

sented by the Irish Gaelic, and containing, besides, the Gae- 
lic of the Highlands of Scotland and the Manks of the Isle of 
Man. In all, here are six dialects, the three former of which 
are the relics of the language of the ancient Britons, and the 
latter three of that spoken by the inhabitants of Ireland. Of 
the two branches it is supposed the Gaelic is the oldest. 

The Celtic elements of the present English, few as they 
are, fall into four classes. 

1. Those that are of late introduction, and can not be called 
original and constituent parts of the language. Such are the 
v^ovds flannel, crowd (a fiddle), from the Cambrian; kerne j 
an Irish foot soldier ; tartan, plaid, from the Gaelic branch. 

2. Those that are common to both the Celtic and the 
Gothic ; such as brathair, brother ; mathair, mother. 

,3. Those that have come to us from the Celtic through 
the medium of another language ; such are Druid and Bard, 
which come to us through the Latin. 

4. Those that have been retained from the original Celtic 
of the island, forming genuine, original, and constituent ele- 
ments of our language, a. Proper names, generally of geo- 
graphical localities ; as. The Thames, Kent, &c. b. Common 
names retained in the provincial dialects of England, but not 
retained in the current language ; as, Givethall^household 
stuff, and gwlanen^= flannel, in Herefordshire, c. Common 
names retained in the current language ; as, basgawa, basket ; 
botwm, button ; bran, bran ; crog, crook ; darn, darn ; grei- 
del, grid or gridiron; mattog, mattock; mop, mop ; rhail 
(fence), rail ; syth (glue), size. 

The greater part of the names of mountains, lakes, and 
rivers in both of the British islands are to this day signifi- 
cant, and descriptive only in some Celtic language. The ap- 
pellation of these vast and permanent parts of Nature are 
commonly observed to continue as unchanged as themselves. 
Thus certain names given by the Indians to mountains, lakes, 
and rivers, like Allegany, Huron, Potomac, seem destined to 
survive, though the race themselves have passed away before 
the Anglo-Saxon, just as the Celts did in our mother-land. 



THE LATIN ELEMENT. 



THE LATIN ELEMENT. 



41 



§ 25. Urged on by curiosity and ambition, Julius Caesar 
invaded Britain in the year 55 B.C. Though the Britons 
met him even in the v^aves with a determined resistance, yet 
their impetuous valor could not withstand Roman discipline. 
And in subsequent years, though they fought for independ- 
ence under the brave Caractacus and the heroine Boadicea^ 
the Roman legions still triumphed. Agricola completed the 
conquest of the island. Pursuing a liberal policy, he seems 
to have directed all the energies of his mind to civilize and 
improve the fierce natives. He assisted them to build tem- 
ples ; he inspired them with a love of education ; and he 
persuaded some of their chiefs to study letters. Roman dress, 
and language, and literature, spread among the natives. 
'' Roman law and magistracies were every where established, 
and British lawyers as well as British ladies have obtained 
the panegyrics of the Roman classics." As the Latin lan- 
guage was spoken by those who presided over the civil and 
military affairs of the country, and by a portion of those who 
were active in spreading the Christian religion in the island, 
as Roman colonies were established in different places, and 
as there was constantly more or less intercourse between 
Rome and England, we can easily believe that the language 
of the ancient Britons was somewhat modified by the intro- 
duction of Latin words and phrases. Only a few of these 
remain, and these are somewhat changed. Thus strata is 
changed to street, colonia into colriy as in Lincoln =^Lindi 
colonia ; castra into Chester and cester^ as Winchester, Glou- 
cester, which latter was originally written Glevce Castra. 

It is remarkable that Roman Britain did not produce a 
single literary name, nor a single work from which we might 
form an estimate as to what degree the Latin language was 
used. The Latin element v/as, for the most part, not in- 
troduced during the five hundred years the Romans had pos- 
session of the island, but afterward, by the teachers of re- 
ligion, and by the teachers and admirers of the Roman clas- 
sics. 

In the Second Period, namely, under the Christianized 



42 THE HISTORICAL ELEMENTS. 

Saxon sovereigns, many words were introduced relating 
chiefly to ecclesiastical matters, just as Latin of the Celtic 
period related to military affairs. Mynster, a minster. Mon- 
aster ium ; portic^ a ^^oxGh, porticus ; cluster, a cloister, claus- 
trum ; munuc, a monk, monachus ; bisceop, a bishop, epis- 
copus ; sanct, a saint, sanctus ; profost, a provost, proposi- 
tus ; pistel, an epistle, epistola. The following are names 
of foreign plants and animals : Gamell, a camel, camelus ; 
2/lp, elephant, elephas ; fic-beam, fig-tree, ficus ; pipor, pep- 
per, piper ; purpur, purple, purpura ; pumic-stan, pumice 
stone, pumex. 

The Latin introduced during the time the Romans were 
masters of the island, may be called the Latin of the First 
Period ; the Latin introduced during the time from the com- 
ing of the Anglo-Saxons to the Conquest by William, may 
be called the Latin of the Second Period ; and the Latin in- 
troduced between the Conquest and reign of Henry the 
Eighth, or the revival of learning, may be called the Latin 
of the Third Period. This last was of two sorts, direct and 
indirect. Direct, as when in ecclesiastical law, words intro- 
duced at once from the Latin ; Indirect, when, as in the com- 
mon law, and in the language of the Constitution, Latin 
words were introduced through the medium of the Anglo- 
Norman. Since the time of Henry the Eighth, large addi- 
tions have been made to the English from the Latin lan- 
guage, especially of terms used in the sciences. 

THE ANGLO-SAXON ELEMENT. 

§ 26. After holding possession of Britain nearly five hund- 
red years from the time Ccesar first landed on its shores, the 
Romans, pressed by enemies from without, and torn by in- 
testine divisions, found themselves obliged to retire from the 
island. The Britons, left to enjoy their liberty, found them- 
selves unfitted, by their long subjugation to the Romans, to 
defend themselves against the Picts and the Scots, who pourr 
ed in upon them from the northern part of the island. Being 
thus hard pressed, Vortigern, the most powerful of the Brit- 
ish kings, in A.D. 449 invited Hengist and Horsa, with 
their followers, to fight his battles. 



r 



THE ANGLO-SAXON ELEMENT. 43 

*' Then, sad relief, from the bleak coast that hears 
The German Ocean roar, deep-blooming, strong, 
And yellow-hau'ed, the blue-eyed Saxon came." 

Saxon^ a term derived from a short, crooked sword, call- 
ed 5ea:c, carried under their loose garments by the warriors 
of the nation, was a general name given to the adventurers 
led by those chieftains, though they belonged to three tribes, 
namely, the Angles, the Saxons, and the Jutes. These belong- 
ed to the Gothic race, which composed the second great stream 
issuing from Asia, and spreading itself over the northern and 
western part of Europe. The branch to which they belonged 
was the Teutonic or Germanic, which occupied the part of 
Europe now occupied by the Germans, and the southern part 
of the Danish nation. 

The Saxons were a fierce race of pirates, reckless of life, 
who traversed the German Ocean in osier boats, covered with 
skins sewed together, in pursuit of plunder, and not of fame. 
Their persons were of the largest size, their eyes blue, their 
complexion fair, and their hair almost uniformly of a light 
color. Though the love of gain was their ruling passion, 
still they sometimes showed a high regard for honor, and a 
pride of mind that could not endure disgrace. Tvt^enty-nine 
Saxons strangled themselves, to avoid being brought into a 
theater for a gladiatorial show. Their arms were long 
lances, short crooked swords or knives, called seaxes, with 
small shields, suspended by chains, and long iron sledge ham- 
mers. They were a race of idolaters, v/ho sacrificed to their 
favorite idols the captives they took in battle, and the coward- 
ly of their own army. The abstract name of the Deity was 
God. But there were other principal deities of the North- 
men. Odin, whom they called the All. Father ; Freya, his 
wife ; and their son Thor. Of these, the Anglo-Saxons, like 
the Danes, paid the highest honor to Odin ; the Norwegians 
and Icelanders to Thor ; and the Swedes to Freya. Alpha- 
betical characters were used by the Gothic nations on the 
Baltic before they received Christianity, and the origin of 
them is ascribed to Odin. As the profession of arms was 
generally aspired to by the youth of the Teutonic race, their 
education from the first had a bearing upon their success in 



44 THE HISTORICAL ELEMENTS. 

that profession. Aristotle says that the " Germans used to 
take their new-born children and dive with them into rivers, 
as well to make a trial of their strength as to accustom them 
to hardness ; and that they laid their children among their 
armor in the camp, it being sport to the infants to see the 
glittering of the armor. They taught their little boys to 
manage the pike, having small javelins made for the purpose." 

Thus qualified to fight the battles of the Britons against 
their enemies, the Picts and Scots, they came, few in num- 
bers, at first, as mercenaries into the army of Vortigern, un- 
til, their numbers increasing, they turned their arms against 
the very nation they came to protect. Afterward Ella and 
Cerdic came with the Saxons proper, then Ida with the An- 
gles. To these for many years the Britons offered a brave 
but a vain resistance, under three kings ; under E Irian, Owen, 
and Prince Arthur, Vv^ith his knights of the round table, cel- 
ebrated by the British bards. 

To escape from the exterminating sword of their enemies, 
the natives, as soon as they saw that resistance was fruitless, 
fled to the hills and forests. Multitudes found a secure asy- 
lum among the mountains which cover the west part of the 
island. Others, under the conduct of their priests and chief- 
tains, abandoned, it is supposed, their native country altogeth- 
er, and, crossing the ocean, seized the desolate lands on the 
western extremity of Armorica, subdued the neighboring cities, 
and gave the tract the appellation of the parent country. .It 
is still knovv^n by the name of Bretagne. But the work of 
devastation was at last checked by views of personal interest. 
The Britons were at last spared, because their labor was found 
necessary to the cultivation of the soil. Without distinction 
of rank, or sex, or profession, they were divided, together with 
the land, among the conquerors. Being thus diffused among 
the Anglo-Saxons, they introduced the Celtic element into 
the body of the English language. 

The Jutes, in A.D. 449, came from Jutland, in Denmark, 
and occupied small possessions in Kent and the Isle of Wight. 
The Saxons, in A.D. 491, came from a wide-spread territory 
south of Denmark, and obtained possession of the western and 
southern parts. The Angles came in A.D. 527, from An- 



THE ANGLO-SAXON ELEME^NT. 45 

glen in Sleswick, in the south part of Denmark, and occu- 
pied the east and north part of England, and the south part 
of Scotland. There were one Jute, three Saxon, and four 
Angle ; in all, eight kingdoms, though they went by the 
name of the Saxon Heptarchy. The Angles very naturally 
denominated that part of the country they inhabited Angle- 
land^ or the land of the Angles, which was afterward con- 
tracted to England. It is a remarkable fact that the En- 
glish of the present day are called by the Britons in Wales, 
and by the Highlanders in Scotland, in Cambrian and Gaelic, 
not Angles or English, but Saxons. 

After the entire subjugation of the Britons, the West Sax- 
ons grew in influence and territory until A.D. 827, when 
Egbert, king of Wessex, defeated and made tributary all the 
other Saxon kings. The most distinguished of the West 
Saxon kings was Alfred, who, to remarkable prowess in war, 
united a taste for letters. He not only drew learned men 
from other parts of Europe into England, but by his own lit- 
erary efforts, especially in translating Bede's History, and 
Boethius qn the Consolations of Philosophy, and Orosius's 
History of the World, he gave so much prominence to the 
West Saxon language as to constitute it the cultivated lan- 
guage of the Anglo-Saxons. 

Thus we can understand how it is that the Anglo-Saxon 
enters so largely into the English ; that it is less an element 
than it is the Mother-tongue, upon which a few words have 
been ingrafted from other languages. To this point I shall 
return. 

It is remarkable that the Jutes, the Angles, the Saxons, 
and a fourth tribe, namely, the Frisians, lay between the 
two great branches of the Gothic, the Scandinavian on th^ 
north, and the Teutonic on the south. The Jutes were the 
most Danish, and the Frisians were the most Dutch. That 
they understood each other's language there can be no doubt. 
Probably, however, they differed so much that the provincial 
differences now existing in England may be owing to original 
difference of dialect in these tribes. The Frisians, now re- 
siding in Friesland, speak a language strongly resembling the 
Anglo-Saxon. Probably but few of their tribe came to En- 



45 THE HISTORICAL ELEMENTS. 

gland with the other tribes, while so many of the Angles 
came as to leave their country unpeopled. 

THE DANISH OR NORSE ELEMENT. 

§ 27. As early as A.D. 787, the Northmen, including 
Norwegians, Danes, and Swedes, commenced their aggres- 
sions upon England. Of these three Scandinavian nations 
the Swedes took the least share, the Norwegians the great- 
est,' in these invasions. The language of the three was the 
same, the differences being differences of dialect. The Dan- 
ish that became incorporated with oui' language under the 
reign of Canute and his sons, may be called' the Direct Dan- 
ish element, in contradistinction to the Indirect Danish in- 
troduced through the Normans. After the reign of three Dan- 
ish kings, occupying the space of twenty-six years, the crown 
returned to the line of Saxon kings in the person of Edward 
the Confessor. 

A few years back the current opinion was against the doc- 
trine that there was much Danish in England. At present 
the tendency is the 6ther way. The following facts are from 
Mr. Garnett, Phil. Trans. 

1. The Saxon name of the present tow^n of Whitby, in 
Yorkshire, was Streoneshalch. The present nsnoae, W/iitbi/, 
Huitby^ or the White Town, is Danish. 

2. The Saxon name of the capital of Derbyshire was 
Northweortheg. The present name is Danish. 

3. The termination -Z>?/=town, is Norse. 

4. On a monument in Aldburgh Church, Holdernesse, in 
the East Riding of Yorkshire, referred to the age of Edward 
the Confessor, is found the following inscription : 

JJlf het araeran cyrice for hanum and for Gunthana saula. 
" Ulf did rear the church for him and for the soul of Gunthar." 

Now in this inscription Ulf, in opposition to the Anglo-Sax- 
on Wulf, is a Norse form; while hanum is a Norse dative, 
and ,by no means an Anglo-Saxon one. Old Norse, hanum; 
Swedish, honom, 

5. The use oi at for to, as the sign of the infinitive mode, 
is Norse, not Saxon. It is the regular prefix in Icelandic, 
Danish, Swedish, and Feroic. It is also found in the north- 



THE ANGLO-NORMAN ELEMENT. 



47 



ern dialects of the Old English, and in the particular dialect 
of Westmoreland at the present day. 

6. The use oi sum for as ; e. g., swa sum, we forgive onre 
detturs. 

7. Isolated words, in the Northern dialects, are Norse rath- 
er than Saxon. 



Provincial. 


Common Dialect. 


Norse. 


Braid, 


Resemble, 


Braas, Swed. 


Eldin, 


Firing, 


Eld, Dan. 


Force, 


Waterfall, 


Fors, D. Swed. 


Gar, 


Make, 


Gora, Swed. 


Gill, 


Ramne, 


Gil, Iceland. 


Greet, 


Weep, 


Grata, Iceland. 


Ket, 


Carrion, 


Ki6d = flesh, Z>«?^. 


Lait, 


Seek, 


Lede, Dan. 


Lathe, 


Barn, 


Lade, Dan. 


Lile, 


Little, 


Lille, Dan. 



The Danish or Norse element of the Anglo-Norman, as in 
the proper names Guernsey^ Jersey, Alderney, constitutes 
the Indirect Scandinavian element of the English 



THE ANGLO-NORMAN ELEMENT. 

§ 28. The Anglo-Norman or French element appears in 
our language with William the Conqueror at the battle of 
Hastings. Previous to that period there was more or less 
intercourse between the two countries. 1. The residence in 
England of Louis Outremer. 2. Ethelred II. married Em- 
ma, daughter of Richard, duke of Normandy, and the two 
children were sent to Normandy for their education. 3. Ed- 
ward the Confessor is particularly stated to have encouraged 
French manners and the French language in England, very 
much to the dissatisfaction of his subjects. 3. Ingulphus of 
Croydon, educated at Westminster, and secretary to William 
the Conqueror before he invaded England, speaks of his own 
knowledge of the French. 4. Harold passed some time in 
Normandy. 5. The French article la, in the term la drove, 
occurs in a deed of A.D. 975. 

The Norman-French was spoken from the Loire to the 
confines of Flanders. Its position can be understood from 
the following statement : The Latin language of the classic- 
al stock, at first confined to Central Italy, was afterward 



48 THE HISTORICAL ELEMENTS. 

spoken more or less through j;he Eoman empire. Out of the 
union of the Latin with the several other languages spoken 
in that empire grew six principal dialects which deserve to 
be called languages ; two eastern, the Italian and Walla- 
chian ; two southern, the Spanish and Portuguese ; and two 
northwestern, the French and the ProvenqaL — See Presi- 
dent Woolsey's article on the Eomanic Languages, New En- 
glander, vol. v., no. 2. 

The Norman-French, spoken in the north of France, dif- 
fered from the Provencal, spoken in the south, in the follow- 
ing circumstanoe^s : 1. It is of later origin. 2. It was in 
geographical contact, not with the allied languages of Spain, 
but with the Gothic tongues of Germany and Holland. 
There is also a second Gothic element, viz., a Scandinavian 
element. Until the time of the Scandinavians or Northmen, 
the present province of Normandy was called Nuestria. A 
generation beforfe the Norman Conquest, a Norwegian cap- 
tain, named in his own country Rolf, and in France Rollo, 
settled upon the coast of Normandy. What Hengist and 
the Germans were in Britain, Rollo and his Scandinavians 
were in France. The province took from them its name of 
Normandy. As a further proof that a Norwegian element 
was in the Norman-French, it should be stated, 1. That a 
Norse dialect was spoken in Normandy, at Boyeux, some time 
after the battle of Hastings. 2. That William the Conquer- 
or understood the Norse language. 3. That the names of 
Jersey, Guernsey, and Alderney are as truly Norse names 
as Orkney. 

The forthcoming specimens of ingredients from the Roman- 
ic languages, which have been introduced into our own, are 
from the article mentioned above. ''• Camminata, a room 
that can be warmed ; Fr. cheminee, our chimney, Capan- 
na, a hut. ^ Hanc rustici capannam vocant,^ says Isidore, 
* quod unum tantum capiat.' It is our cabin. Capiilum, a 
rope, derived by Isidore from capio. It is our cable. Com- 
panium, company, from eating bread together. Discapelare, 
dishevel, from the Burgundian law. Exclusa, Fr. ecluse, 
our sluice, found in the Salic law. Tornare, our turn, found 
in the Lombard law ; a word of Greek origin which has 



LANGUAGE BEFORE THE NORMAN CONQUEST. 49 

superseded verto^ verso in Eomanic." The Anglo-Norman 
element is made up of ingredients from the Celtic, the clas- 
sical, and the Gothic stock. 

In the year A.D. 1066, William, duke of Normandy, 
having landed an army of sixty thousand men in England, 
at the battle of Hastings, killed Harold the king, defeated his 
army, and thus put an end to the Anglo-Saxon dynasty. 
After he had ascended the throne, his followers were reward- 
ed by the principal offices of trust in the kingdom, and by 
the estates of the nobility. The Norman-French, as a con- 
sequence, was spoken by the superior classes of society in 
England, from the Conquest to the time of Edward the Third, 
1327, between two and three hundred years. The laws of 
the realm, the proceedings in Parliament, and in the courts 
of justice, were in the French language. Grammar-school- 
boys were made to construe their Latin into French. In 
the statutes of Oriel College, Oxford, there is a regulation, so 
late as 1328, that the students shall converse together, if not 
in Latin, at least in French, Hence the English was seldom 
written till after the close of the fourteenth century. Sir 
John Mandeville's Travels, written in 1356, has been called 
the first English book. Wickliffe's translation of the Bible 
into English is referred to 1383. In 1350, John Cornwall, 
a schoolmaster, brought in so great an innovation as the mak- 
ing of his boys read Latin into English. By a statute in 
1362, all pleas in courts of justice are directed to be pleaded 
and judged in English, on account of the French being so 
much unknown. 

CONDITION OF THE LANGUAGE BEFORE THE NORMAN 

CONQUEST. 

§ 29. As to the language spoken before the coming of the 
Normans, Camden remarks :" Great, verily, was the glory 
of the English tongue before the Norman conquest, in this 
that the Old English could express most aptly all the con- 
ceits of the mind in their own tongue, without borrowing 
from any. For example, the holy service of God, which the 
Latins call religio^ because it knitteth the minds of men to- 
gether, they call ean fastness, as the one only assurance an- 

D 



50 THE HISTORICAL ELEMENTS. 

chor-hold of our soul's health. The certain inward knowledge 
of that which is in our own mind, be it good or bad, which 
with the Latin word we call conscience, they call inwit ; as 
that which doth inwardly wit^ that is, doth know certainly 
That which in a river is called channel, was called stream 
race. That which we call grandfather, they called eald 
fader. That which we called great-grandfather, they called 
third fader. The alteration in our tongue hath been brought 
about by the entrance of strangers^ as Danes, Normans, and 
others which have swarmed hither ; by traffick, for new 
words as well as new wares have always come in ; by the 
tyrant Time, which altereth all things under heaven ; by 
use, which swayeth most and hath an absolute command in 
words ; and by pregnant wits it hath been beautified and en- 
riched out of other good tongues, partly by refining and mol- 
lifying old words, and partly by implanting new words with 
artificial composition, so that our tongue was as copious as 
any other in Europe." 

Cases of certain changes from German to Norman-French 
are alluded to in the following terms in the Grammar of J. 
Wallis, p. 20 : " Nee quidem temere contigisse puto, quod 
animalia viva, nominibus Germanicse originis vocemus, quo- 
rum tamen carnem in cibum paratam, originis Gallicse no- 
minibus appellamus ; puta, bovem, vaccam, vitulum, ovem, 
porcum, aprum, feram, etc. ; an ox, a cow, a calf, a sheep, 
a hog, a boar, a deer, etc. ; sed carnem bubulam, vituli- 
nam, ovinam, porcinam, aprugnam, ferinam ; beef, veal, mut- 
ton, pork, braivn, venison, etc. ; sed hinc id ortum putaverim, 
quod Normanni milites pascuis, caulis, haris, locisque qui- 
bus vivorum animalium cura agebatur, parcius se immis- 
cuerint (quae itaque antiqua nomina retinuerunt) ; quam ma- 
cellis, culinis, mensis, epulis, ubi vel parabantur vel habe- 
bantur cibi, qui itaque nova nomina ab illis sunt adepti." 
'' And I am of opinion that a tolerable reason can be given, 
why the names of those living creatures are originally Ger- 
man whose flesh, when prepared for food, we call by French 
names ; as, for instance, an ox, a coiu, a calf, a sheep, a hog^ 
a boar, a deer, &c., are German names ; but beef, veal, mut- 
ton, pork, brawn, venison, are French. The reason, then, I 



I 



LANGUAGE BEFORE THE NORMAN CONQUEST. 51 

take it to be, is that the Norman soldiers did not so much 
concern themselves with pastures, parks, pens, and other 
places where these creatures were kept and looked after, 
which therefore preserved their ancient names, as with mark- 
ets, kitchens, feasts, and entertainments, where the food was 
either sold, or prepared, or eaten, whence it received its new 
names." 

Walter Scott describes the same thing, in his sprightly 
way, in Ivanhoe. 

li i Why, how call you those grunting brutes running about 
on their four legs V demanded Wamba. 

" ' Swine, fool, swine,' said the herd ; < every fool knows 
that.' 

" < And swine is good Saxon,' said the Jester ; ^ but how 
call you the sow when she is flayed, and drawn, and quar- 
tered, and hung by the heels like a traitor V <-. ' 

" 'Pork,' answered the swineherd. 

'' 'I am very glad every fool knows that too,' said Wamba ; 
< and pork, I think, is good Norman-French ; and so when 
the brute lives, and is in charge of a Saxon slave, she goes 
by her Saxon name ; but becomes a Norman, and is called 
pork, when she is carried to the castle hall to feast among 
the nobles. What dost thou think of this doctrine. Friend 
Gurth, ha ?' 

" 'It is but too true doctrine, friend Wamba, however it 
got into thy fool's pate.' 

" 'Nay, I can tell you more,' said Wamba, in the same 
tone. ' There is old Alderman Ox continues to hold his Sax- 
on epithet while he is under the charge of serfs and bondmen 
such as thou, but becomes beef, a fiery French gallant, when 
he arrives before the worshipful jaws that are destined to con- 
sume him. " Mynheer Calf," too, becomes " Monsieur de 
Veau" in the like manner. He is Saxon when he requires 
tendance, and takes a Norman name when he becomes mat- 
ter of enjoyment.' " — Ivanhoe, chap. i. 

" Had the Plantagenets, as at one time seemed likely, suc- 
ceeded in uniting all France under their government, it is 
probable that England would never have had an independent 
existence. The noble language of Milton and Burke would 



52 THE HISTORICAL ELEMENTS. 

have remained a rustic dialect, without a literature, a fixed 
grammar, or a fixed orthography, and would have been con- 
temptuously abandoned to the use of boors. No man of En- 
glish extraction would have risen to eminence except by be- 
coming, in speech and habits, a Frenchman." — Macaulay's 
History of England, p. 14. 

As exemplifying the profound ignorance of the English 
kings respecting the language of the larger portion of their 
subjects, we have the following anecdote : Henry H., who 
ascended the throne in 1154, having been addressed by a 
number of his subjects during a journey into Pembrokeshire, 
in a speech commencing with the words " Good olde Kynge !" 
asked of his attendants an interpretation of these words ! 

"The influence of the Norman Conquest upon the lan- 
guage of England was like that of a great inundation, which 
at first buries the face of the landscape under its waters, but 
which, at last subsiding, leaves behind it the elements of new 
beauty and fertility. Its first effect was to degrade the Sax- 
on tongue to the exclusive use of the inferior orders ; and by 
the transference of estates, ecclesiastical benefices, and civil 
dignities to Norman possessors, to give the French language, 
which had begun to prevail at court, from the time of Ed- 
ward the Confessor, a more complete predominance among 
the higher classes of society. The native gentry of England 
were either driven into exile, or depressed into a state of de- 
pendence on their conqueror, which habituated them to speak 
his language. On the other hand, we received from the Nor- 
mans the first germs of romantic poetry ; and our language 
was ultimately indebted to them for a wealth and compass of 
expression which it probably would not otherwise have pos- 
sessed." — Thomas Campbell's Essay on English Poetry, p. 4. 

MISCELLANEOUS ELEMENTS. 

§ 30. As by conquest, by travel, and extensively by com- 
merce, those who speak the English language have come in 
contact with other nations, they have introduced into it many 
words which may be comprehended under the general term 
Miscellaneous elements. These are of two sorts : those that 
are incorporated into our language and are currently under- 



THE MCESO-GOTHIC LANGaAGE. 53 

stood ; as the Spanish word Sherry, the Arabic word Alkali, 
and the Persian word Turban, the Russian word Czar, and 
those that, even among the educated, are considered as stran- 
gers. Of this latter kind are such as the Oriental words 
Hummum, Kaftan, Gul, Bulbul, Nankeen. 

THE RELATIONS OF THE MCESO-GOTHIC. 

§ 31. The ancient Goths occupied the island of Gothland 
and the southern shores of the Baltic, and were in contact 
with the ancestors of the Anglo-Saxons, who emigrated to 
Britain, and spoke the same or a similar language. Early 
in the Christian era, a portion of them, leaving their ancient 
seats, established themselves on the coasts of the Black Sea. 
A section of these, called the Visigoths, or West Goths, being 
oppressed by the Huns, induced Ulphilas, their bishop, to im- 
plore the protection of the Roman Emperor Valens, in A.D. 
376. He pleaded their cause so successfully, that they wer© 
permitted to cross the Danube and occupy the country of 
Moesia. They were hence called Mceso- Goths. Their bish- 
op, having thus secured for them the peaceful possession of 
that country, that he might lead them to the fountain of 
Christian truth, translated for them, between A.D. 360 and 
380, the Bible into the Gothic language. This language is, 
in fact, tha pure German of that period, which the Goths 
had carried into Moesia. This is the earliest German dia- 
lect now in existence. The most famous of the remaining 
fragments of this translation is the Codex Argenteus, or Sil- 
ver Book, so called from being transmitted to us in letters of 
a silver hue. The words appear to be formed on vellum by 
metallic characters heated, and then impressed on silver foil, 
which is attached to the vellum by some glutinous substance, 
somewhat in the manner in which bookbinders now letter 
and ornament their books. This, document, containing parts 
of the four Gospels, is supposed to be of the fifth century, 
and made in Italy. It throws much light on the kindred 
language of the Anglo-Saxons. 

Declension of a Weak Substantive ; namely, one ending 
in a vowel, in Mceso-Gothic. Masculine nom.. Manna 
(a ma?i) ; ace, Mannan ; dat., Mannin ; gen., Mannins ; pi. 



54 



THE HISTORICAL ELEMENTS. 



nom.<i Mannans ; ace, Mannans ; dat., Mannam ; gen., Man- 
nane. 

Declension of a Strong Substantive; namely, one ending 
in a consonant, in Mceso-Gothic. Masculine nom., Fisks (a 
fish); ace, Fisk; dat., Fiska; gen,, Fiskis; pL nom., Fiskos; 
ace, Fiskans ; dat., Fiskam ; gen., Fiske. 

Declension of Weak (or Definite^ Adjectives in Mgsso- 
Gothic. 



Kom. Neuter. 

Nom., Blindo (the Blind), 
Ace, Blindo, 
Dat., Blindin, 
Gen., Blindins, 



Nom., Blindona, 
Ace, Blindona, 
Bat., Blindam, 
Gen., Blindone, 



SINGULAR. 

Masculine. 

Blinda, 
Blindan, 
Blindin, 
Blindins, 

PLURAL. 
Blindans, 
Blindans, 
Blindam, 
Blindane, 



Feminine. 

Blindo. 
Blindon. 
Blindon. 
Blindons. 

Blindons. 
Blindons 
Blindom. 
Blindons. 



The Conjugation of the Substantive Verb in Mceso-Gothic 



INDICATIVE-PRES. 

Singular. Plural. 

1. Im {lam), Sijum. 

2. Is, Siju)3. 

3. 1st, Sind. 

SUBJUNCTIVE-PRES. 



PRETERITE. 

Singular. Plural. 

Vas, Vesum. 

Vast, Vesu}?. 

Vas, Vesun. 

PRETERITE. 



Singular. Plural. Singular. PluraL 

1. Sijau, Sij^ima. Vesjau, Veseima. 

2. Sijdis, Sijdif). . Veseis, Vesei]?. 

3. Sijai, Sijaina. Vesei, Veseina. 

Inf. Visan and Sijan {to be). 
Part. Visands (being). 



THE RELATIONS OF THE FRISIAN. 

§ 32, The Frisians occupied a territory immediately south 
and west of the country of the Anglo-Saxons, and probably 
spoke nearly the same dialect. Encompassed on one side by 
the sea, and on the other by the Saxons, their ancient dialect 
they have retained to a remarkable degree ; so that in the 
opinion of that distinguished scholar, Francis Junius, who 
spent two years in those parts of Frisia noted for their te- 



THE FRISIAN LANGUAGE. 



55 



naoity of old manners and language, none of the German 
tongues approach so closely to the Anglo-Saxon as the Fris- 
ian. A careful comparison of the two languages, whether 
in the grammar or the lexicon, will lead us to the same 
conclusion. a, in Frisian, corresponds to ea in Anglo- 
Saxon ; as, Dad, rad, las, stram, bam, cap, are, hap, Fris- 
ian ; Dead, read, leas, stream, beam, ceap, eare, heap, Anglo- 
Saxon; Dead, red, loose, stream, tree (boom), bargain (^chesup, 
chapman), ear, heap, English. These are specimens of an 
extensive correspondence in the three languages. 



Frisian. 


Anglo-Saxon. 


English. 


Age, 


Eage, 


Eye. 


Haved, 


Heafod, 


Head. 


Kind, 


Gild, 


Child. 


Nacht, 


Niht, 


Night. 


Dede, 


Daed, 


Deed. 


Nose, 


Nasu, 


Nose. 


Sla, 


Slean, 


Slay. 


Gunga, 


Gangan, 


go {Gang). 



COUNTRY-FEISIAN IN ITS PRES- 
ENT STATE. 

Hwat bist dou, Libben 1 
len wjrch stribjen 

Fen pine, noed in soarch ; 
Lange oeren fen smerte. 
In nochten — ho kodrt ! 

Det ford wine de modrns. 

Dead, hwat bist dou, 
Ta hwaem alien buwgje. 

Fen de scepterde kening ta de slawe 
De laetste, baeste freon. 
Cm uws sodrgen to eingjen, 

Dyn gebiet is yn't graef. 

Wenneer se alien binne fled, 
Jouwst dou ien baed, 

Waer wy kalm yn sliepe : 
De wounen alle hele, 
De digerige eagen segele, 

Dy lang diene wekje in gepje. 



THE ORIGINAL, BY THE COUNTESS OF 
BLESSINGTON, IN THE BOOK OF BEAU' 
TY, 1834. 

What art thou. Life \ 
A weary strife 

Of pain, care, and sorrow ; 
Long hours of grief, 
And joys— how brief! 

That vanish the morrow. 

Death ! what art thou. 
To whom all bow, 

From sceptred king to slave ! 
The last, best friend, 
Our cares to end, 

Thy empire is in the grave. 

When all have fled. 
Thou giv'st a bed. 

Wherein we calmly sleep : 
The wounds long healed, 
The dim eyes sealed. 

That long did wake and weep. 



5e THE HISTORICAL ELEMENTS. 



THE RELATION OF THE ENGLISH TO THE ANGLO- 
SAXON, AND THE STAGES OF THE ENGLISH LAN- 
GUAGE. 

§ 33. The relation of the present English to the Anglo- 
Saxon is that of a Modern language to an Ancient one, the 
words Modern and Ancient being used in a defined and tech- 
nical sense. 

Let the word Smi^um illustrate this. Smi^um, the Da- 
tive Plural of Smi^, is equivalent in meaning to the English 
to Smiths, or to the Latin Fabris. Smi^um, however, is a 
single Anglo-Saxon word (a Substantive, and nothing more), 
while its English equivalent is two words {i. e., a Substan- 
tive with the addition of a Preposition). The letter s in 
Smiths shows that the word is plural. The -um in Smi^um 
does this and something more. It is the sign of the Dative 
Case Plural. The -urn in Smi^um is the part of a word. The 
proposition to is a separate word with an independent exist- 
ence. Smi^um is the radical syllable Smi^, plus the subor- 
dinate inflectional syllable -tim, the sign of the Dative Case. 
To Smiths is the substantive Smiths, plus the Preposition 
to, equivalent in power to the sign of a Dative Case, but dif- 
ferent from it in form. As far, then, as the word just quoted 
is concerned, the Anglo-Saxon differs from the English thus : 
It expresses a certain idea by a modification of the form of 
the root, whereas the Modern English denotes the same idea 
by the addition of a Preposition. The Saxon form is an in- 
flection. In English it is superseded by a combination of 
words. 

The same part that is played by the Preposition with 
nouns, is played by the Auxiliaries {liave, be, &c.) with Verbs. 

The sentences in italics are mere variations of the same 
general statement. (1.) The earlier the stage of a given 
language, the greater the amount of its inflectional forms / 
and the later the stage of a given language, the sraaller the 
amount of them. (2.) As languages become Modern, they 
substitute Prepositions and Auxiliary Verbs for Cases and 
Tenses. (3.) The amount of inflection is in the inverse pro- 
portion to the amount of Prepositions and Auxiliary Verbs, 



ANGLO-SAXON NOUNS. 



57 



^4.) In the course of time languages drop their inflection, 
and substitute in their stead circumlocutions by means of 
Prepositions, Sfc. The reverse never takes place. (5 ?j Giv- 
ing two modes of expression, the one inflectional ( Smi^um), 
the other circumlocutional (to Smiths), we can state that 
the flrst belongs to an early, the second to a late stage of 
language. 

The present chapter, then, showing the relation of the En- 
glish to the Anglo-Saxon, shows something more. It exhib- 
its the general relation of a modern to an ancient language. 
As the English is to the Anglo-Saxon, so are the Danish, 
Swedish, and Norwegian to the Old Norse ; so the modern 
Dutch of Holland to a dialect closely akin to the Old Fris- 
ian ; so also the modern High German to the McEso-Gothic ; 
so, moreover, among the languages of a different stock, are 
the French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanese, and 
Wallaohian to the Latin, and the Eomaio to the ancient 
Greek. 

As contrasted with the English, but contrasted with it 
only in those points where the ancient tongue is compared 
with the modern one, the Anglo-Saxon has the following dif- 
ferences : 

NOUNS. 

Of Gender. — In Anglo-Saxon there are three Genders : 
the Masculine, the Feminine, and the Neuter. With Adjec- 
lives, each gender has its peculiar declension ; with Substan- 
tives there are also appropriate terminations, but only to a 
certain degree ; e. g., of words ending in a (Nama, a Name ; 
Cuma, a Guest), it may be stated that they are always mas- 
culine ; of words in u (Sunu, a Son ; Gifu, a Gift), that they 
are never neuter ; in other words, that they are always either 
Masculine or Feminine. The Definite article varies with the 
gender of its substantive : pact Eage, the Eye ; se Steorra, 
the Star ; seo Tunge, the Tongue. 

Of Number. — The plural form in -en (as in oxen), rare 
in English, was common in Anglo-Saxon. It was the regu- 
lar termination of a whole declension ; e. g., Edgan, Eyes ; 
Steorran^ Stars ; Tungen, Tongues. Besides this, the Anglo- 



58 THE HISTORICAL ELEMENTS. 

Saxons had forms in -u and -a ; as, Ricu^ Kingdoms ; Gifa^ 
Gifts. The termination -^5 current in the present English, 
was confined to a single gender, and to a single declension ; 
as, Endas^ Ends ; Dagas, Days ; Smi^as, Smiths. 

Of Case. — Of these the Saxons had for their substantives 
at least three ; viz., the Nominative, Dative, and Genitive. 
With the Pronouns and Adjectives there was a true accusa- 
tive form, and with a few especial words an ablative or in- 
strumental one. Smi^j a Smith ; Smi^e, to a Smith ; Smiles, 
of a Smith. Plural, Smi^as, Smiths ; Smi^um, to Smiths ; 
Smi^a, of Smiths. — -He, He ; Hine, Him ; Him, to Him ; His, 
His. — Se, the ; pa, the ; pT/, with the ; pam, to the ; paes, of the. 

Of Declension.- — In Anglo-Saxon it is necessary to de- 
termine the termination of a substantive. There is the 
Weak or Simple Declension for words ending in a vowel (as 
Eage, Steorra,Tunga), and the Strong or Complex declension 
for words ending in a consonant (Sm2S, Spraec, Ledf). The 
letters i and u are dealt with as semi-vowels, semi-vowels 
being dealt with as consonants ; so that words like Sunu and 
Gifu belong to the same declension as Smi^ and Spraec. 

The Anglo-Saxon inflection of the Participles Present is 
remarkable. With the exception of the form of the Genitive 
Plural Definite (which, instead of -e?ta, is -ra), they follow the 
declension of the adjectives. From the masculine substan- 
tives formed from them, and denoting the agent, they may 
be distinguished by a difference of Inflection. 

Participle. Substantive. 

Wegferende — Wayfaring'. Wegferend— JFay/arer. 

Sing. Norn., Wegferende, Wegferend. 

Ace, Wegferendne, Wegferend. 

AM., Wegferende, Wegferende. 

Dat., Wegferendum, Wegferende. 

Gen., Wegferendes, ^ Wegferendes. 

Plur. Nom., Wegferende, Wegferendas. 

Dat., Wegferendum, Wegferendum. 

Gen., Wegferendra, Wegferenda. 

Pronouns Personal. — Of the Pronominal Inflection in 
Saxon the character may be gathered from the chapter upon 
Pronouns. At present it may be stated that, like the Moeso- 
Gothio and Icelandic, the Anglo-Saxon language possessed, 



ANGLO-SAXON VERBS. 59 

for the two first persons, a Dual number, inflected as fol- 
lows : 

1st Person. 2d Person. 

JVom., Wit, We two. Norn., Git, Ye two. 

Ace, Unc, Us two. Ace, Inc, You two. 

Gen., Uncer, Of us two. Gen., Incer, Of you two. 

Besides this, the Demonstrative, Possessive, and Relative 
pronouns, as well as the numerals Twa and predj had a fuller 
declension than they have at present. 

VERBS. 

Mode. — The Subjunctive Mode, that in the present En- 
glish (with the exception of the Conjugation of the Verb 
Substantive) differs from the Indicative only in the third 
person singular, was in Anglo-Saxon inflected as follows : 

INDICATIVE MODE. 

. Pres. Sing., 1. Lufige. Plur., 1. ^ 

2. Lufast. 2. >Liifia$. 

3. Lufa«. 3. ) 

SUBJUNCTIVE MODE. 
Pres. Sing., 1. ^ Plur., 1. ^ 

2. V Lufige. 2. VLufion. 

3. } 3. ) 

The Saxon Infinitive ended in -an (Lufian), and was so far 
declined as to give a so-called gerundial form, to Lufigenne. 

Tense. — In regard to tense, the Anglo-Saxon coincided with 
the English. The present language has two tenses, the Pres- 
ent and the Past ; the Saxon had no more. The past tense 
the modern English forms either by addition (Love, Loved)^ 
or by change (Fall, Fell). So did the Anglo-Saxons. 

Number and Person. — In the present English the termin- 
ation -eth is antiquated. In Anglo-Saxon it was the only 
form recognized. In English the Plural Number (indicative 
as well as subjunctive) has no distinguishing inflection. It 
was not so in Anglo-Saxon. There, although the persons 
were identical in form, the numbers were distinguished by the 
termination -a^ for the indicative, and -n for the subjunctive. 

Such are the chief points in the Declension of Nouns and 
the Conjugation of Verbs that give a difference of character 



60 THE HISTORICAL ELEMENTS. 

between the Ancient Anglo-Saxon and the Modern English ; 
and it has already been stated that the differences between 
the new and the old German, the Dutch and the Frisian, the 
Italian, &c., and the Latin, the Romaic and the Greek, &o., 
are similar. 

§ 34. How far can the rate of change in a given language 
be accelerated by outward circumstances ? This question 
bears immediately upon the history of the English language. 
The grammar of the current idiom, compared with that of 
the Anglo-Saxons, is simplified. How far was this simplifi- 
cation of the grammar promoted by the Norman Conquest ? 
The current views exaggerate the influence of the Norman 
Conquest and of French connections. The remark of Mr. 
Price in his Preface to Warton, acceded to by Mr. Hallam 
in his Introduction to the Literature of Europe, is, that every 
one of the other Low Germanic languages (affected by noth- 
ing corresponding to the Norman Conquest) displays the same 
simplification of grammar as the Anglo-Saxon (affected by 
the Norman Conquest) displays. Confirmatory of this re- 
mark, it may be added that, compared with the Icelandic, 
the Danish and Swedish do the same. 

'* Nothing can be more difficult, except by an arbitrary 
line, than to determine the commencement of the English 
language ; not so much, as in those on the Continent, be- 
cause we are in want of materials, but rather from an oppo- 
site reason, the possibility of showing a very gradual succes- 
sion of verbal changes that ended in a change of denomina- 
tion. We should probably experience a similar difficulty if 
we knew equally well the current idiom of France or Italy 
in the seventh or eighth centuries ; for when we compare 
the earliest English of the thirteenth century with the An- 
glo-Saxon of the twelfth, it seems hard to pronounce why it 
should pass for a separate language rather than a modifica- 
tion of the former. We must conform, however, to usage, 
and say that the Anglo-Saxon was converted into English : 
1. By contracting and otherwise modifying the pronunciation 
and orthography of words. 2. By omitting many inflections, 
especially of the noun, and consequently making more use 
of articles and auxiliaries. 3. By the introduction of French 



SPECIMENS OF ANGLO-SAXON. 



61 



derivatives. 4. By using less inversion and ellipsis, especial- 
ly in poetry. Of these, the second alone, I think, can be 
considered as sufficient to describe a new form of language ; 
and this was brought about so gradually, that we are not re- 
lieved of much of our difficulty as to whether some composi- 
tions shall pass for the latest offspring of the mother, or the 
earlier fruits of the daughter's fertility. It is a proof of this 
difficulty, that the best masters of our ancient language have 
lately introduced the word Semi-Saxon, which is to cover 
every thing from A.D. 1150 to A.D. 1250." — Hallam's Lit- 
erature, ch. i., p. 47. 



§ 35. 



SPECIMENS OF ANGLO-SAXON. 



From Ccedmon, on the Cre- 
ation, who died A.D. 680. 
Nu scylun hergan 
hefaen ricaes uard, 

metudaes maecti 
end his mod gidanc 
uerc uuldar fadur 
sue he uundra gihuaes 
eci drictin 
or astelidae. 
He aerist scop 
elda barnum 
heben til hrofe 
haleg scepen 
tha middun geard 
mon cynnaes uard 
eci dryctin 
aefter tiadae 
firum foldu 
frea allmectig. 



King Alfred^s Version of 
the same, about A.D. 885. 
Nu we sceolan herian 
heofon-rices weard, 

metodes mihte 
and his mod-gejjonc 
wera wuldor-faeder 
swa he wundra gehwaes 
ece dryhten 
oord onstealde. 
he aerest gesceop 
eorSan bearnum 
heofon to hrofe 
halig scyppend 
Jja middan-geard 
mon cynnes weard 
ece dryhten 
aefter teode 
firum foldan 
frea aelmihtig. 



Literal English Version. 

Now must we praise 
the guardian of heaven' 

kingdom, 
the Creator's might, 
and his mind's thought, 
glorious Father of men ! 
as of every wonder he, 
Lord eternal, 
formed the beginning. 
He first framed 
for the children of earth 
the heavens as a roof; 
holy Creator ! 
then mid-earth 
the guardian of mankind, 
the eternal Lord, 
afterward produced 
the earth for men, 
Lord Almighty ! 



CHANGES' FROM ANGLO-SAXON TO SEMI-SAXON. 

§ 36. 1. The substitution of -an for -as, in the Plural of 
Substantives; as, Munucan for Munucas (monks) ; and, con- 
versely, the substitution of -s for -n; as, Steorres for Steorran 
(stars). The use of -s as the sign of the Plural, without re- 
spect to Gender or Declension, may be one of those changes 
that the Norman Conquest forwarded, -s being the sign of 
the plural in Anglo-Norman. 



62 THE HISTORICAL ELEMENTS. 

2. The ejection or shortening of final Vowels : jDaet Ylc 
for paet Ylce ; Sone for Sunu ; Name for Nama ; Dages 
for Dagas, 

3. The substitution of -n for -m in the Dative Case : HwU 
Ion for Hwilum. 

4. The ejection of the -n of the Infinitive Mode : Cumme 
for Cuman (to come) ; Nemne for Nemnen (to name). 

5. The ejection of the -en in the Participle Passive : I-hote 
for Ge-haten (called, hight). 

6. The so-called Gerundial Termination -enne, superseded 
by the Infinitive Termination -en ; as, to Lufian for to Lu- 
fienne or Lufigenne, 

7. The substitution of -en for -a^, in the Persons Plural 
of -Verbs : Hi clepen (they call) for Hi clypia^, &c. 

The preponderance (not the occasional occurrence) of forms 
like those above constitute Semi- Saxon, in contradistinction 
to Standard Saxon, Classical Saxon, or Anglo-Saxon proper. 

SEMI-SAX ON, 

THE GRAVE. 

[A Fragment, supposed to have been written about the year 1150.] 

Semi- Saxon. Literal English. 

©e wes bold gebyld For thee was a house built 

er J3U iboren were ; Ere thou wast born ; 

•§e wes molde imynt For thee was a mold appointed 

er -Su of moder come Ere thou of mother camest ; 

ac hit nes no idiht But it is not prepared, 

ne J)eo deopnes imeten ; Nor the deepness meted : 

nes gyt iloced Nor is it yet seen 

hu long hit Jje were : How long for thee it were : 

Nu me jse bringae-S Now I bring thee 

jjer -Su beon scealt Where thou shalt be, 

nu me sceal fe meten Now I shall thee measure, 

and -Sa mold seo^^a, &c. And then earth afterward. 

OLD ENGLISH STAGE. 

§ 87. Further changes convert Semi- Saxon into Old En- 
glish. Some, among others, are the following : 

1. The ejection of the Dative Plural Termination -wm, and 
the substitution of the Preposition to and the Plural sign s ; 
as, To Smiths for Smi^um. Of the Dative Singular, the -e 



PREDOMINANT FORMS IN OLD ENGLISH. gg 

is retained (^Ende, Worde) ; but it is by no means certain that, 
although recognized in writing, it was recognized in pronun- 
ciation also. 

2. The ejection of -es in the Genitive Singular whenever 
the Preposition of came before it : Godes love (God^s love) ; 
but the Love of God, and not the Love of Godes. 

3. The syllable -es, as a sign of the Genitive Case, ex- 
tended to all genders and declensions : Hearfs for Heortan ; 
Sunh for Sunnan. 

4. The same in respect of the Plural Number : Sterres for 
Steorran ; Sons for Suna. 

5. The ejection of -na in the Genitive Plural ; as of Sun- 
ges^ for Sungena. 

6. The use of the word The as an article, instead of Se, &c. 
The preponderance of the forms above (not their occasional 

occurrence) constitutes Old English, in contradistinction to 
Semi-Saxon. 

§ 38. PREDOMINANT FORMS IN OLD ENGLISH. 

1. A fuller inflection of the Demonstrative Pronoun or Def- 
inite Article : pan, jDenne, paere, pam, in contradistinction to 
the Middle English. 

2. The presence of the Dative Singular in -e : Ende, 
Smithe, in contradistinction to the Middle English. 

3. The existence of a Genitive Plural in -r or -ra : Heora^ 
Theirs; Aller, of All, in contradistinction to the Middle 
English. This with substantives and adjectives is less com- 
mon. 

4. The substitution of Heo for The^/, of Heora for Their, 
of Hem for Them, in contradistinction to the later stages of 
English, and in contradistinction to Old Lowland Scotch. 

5. A more frequent use of Min and Thin, for Mp and Tht/, 
in contradistinction to Middle and Modern English. 

6. The use of Heo for She, in contradistinction to Middle 
and Modern English and Old Lowland Scotch. 

7. The use of broader vowels ; as in Iclepud or Iclepod (for 
Icleped or Yclept) ; Geongost, Youngest ; Ascode, Asked ; 
Eldore, Elder. 

8. The use of the Strong Preterite (see the chapter on the 



64 THE HISTORICAL ELEMENTS. 

Tenses of Verbs) where in the present English the weak form 
is found : Wex, Wop, Dalf, for Waxed, Wept, Delved. 

9. The omission not only of the Gerundial Termination 
-enne, but also of the Infinitive sign -en after to : To honte, 
To speke, in contradistinction to Semi-Saxon. 

10. The substitution of -en for -ep or -e^, in the First and 
Second Persons Plural of Verbs : We wollen. We will ; Heo 
schullen. They should, in contradistinction to Semi-Saxon. 

11. The comparative absence of the articles Se and Seo^ 
in contradistinction to Semi-Saxon. 

12. The substitution of Ben and Beeth for Synd and Syn- 
don = we, ye, they are, in contradistinction to Semi-Saxon. 

The following extract is from the proclamation of Henry 
III. to the people of Huntingdonshire, A.D. 1258. It cur- 
rently passes for the earliest specimen of English, «. e.. Old 
English : 

" Henry, thurg Godes fultome, King on Engleneloande, 
Lhoaurd on Yrloand, Duke on Normand, on Acquitain, Eorl 
on Anjou, send I greting to alle hise holde, ilaerde & ile- 
werde, on Huntingdonschiere. 

'' That witen ge well alle, thaet we willen & unnen (grant) 
thaet ure raedesmen alle, other the moare del of heom, thaet 
beoth ichosen thurg us and thurg thaet loandes-folk on ure 
Kuneriche, habbith idon and schullen don, in the worthnes of 
God and ure threowthe, for the freme of the loande, thurg 
the besigte of than toforen iscide raedesmen," &c. 

Biter al Translation. — Henry, through God's support, King 
of England, Lord of Ireland, Duke of Normandy, of Aqui- 
taine. Earl of Anjou, sends greeting to all his subjects, learn- 
ed and unlearned, of Huntingdonshire. 

This know ye well all, that we will and grant what our 
counselors all, or the more part of them, that be chosen 
through us and through the landfolk of our kingdom, have 
done, and shall do, to the honor of God, and our allegiance, 
for the good of the land, through the determination of the 
aforesaid counselors, &c. 



SPECIMENS OF MIDDLE ENGLISH. (35 



MIDDLE ENGLISH. 

§ 39. In Chaucer and Mandeville, and perhaps in all the 
writers of the reign of Edward III., we have a transition from 
the Old to the Middle English. The last characteristic of 
a grammar different from that of the present English is the 
plural form in -en: We tellen, Ye tellen, They tellen. As 
this disappears, which it does in the reign of Queen Eliza- 
beth (Spenser has it continually), the Middle English may 
be said to pass into the New or Modern English. 

Geoffrey Chaucer. 1328-1400. 

DEATH OF AKCITE. 

Alas the wq ! alas the peines stronge 
That I for you have suffered, and so longe ' 
Alas the deth ! Alas min Emelie ! 
Alas departing of our compagnie ! 
Alas min hertes queue ! alas my wif ! 
,- Min hertes ladie, ender of my lif ! 

What is this world 1 what axen men to have % 
Now with his love, now in his colde grave, 
Alone withouten any compagnie. 
Farewel my swete, farewel min Emelie, 
And softe take me in your armes twey, 
For love of God, and herkeneth what I sey. 

Sir John Mandeville. 1300-1372. 

And therfore I shall telle you what the Soudan tolde me 
upon a day in his chambre. He leet voyden out of his cham- 
bre alle maner of men, lordes and othere ; for he wolde spake 
with me in conseille. And there he asked me how the Cris- 
tene men governed him in oure countree. And I seyde him, 
righte wel, thanked be God. And he seyde, treulyche nay ; 
for ye Cristene men ne recthen righte noghte how untrewly 
to serve God. Ye scholde geven ensample, &c. 

John Wickliffe. 1324-84. 

. And Marye seyde my soul magnifieth the Lord. And my 
spirit hath gladed in God myn helthe. For he hath behuld- 
en the mekeness of his handmaiden ; for lo for this alle gen- 
eratiouns schulen seye that I am blessid. 

E 



66 THE HISTORICAL ELEMENTS. 



John Lydgate. 1380-1440. 

Till at the last, among the bowes glade 
Of adventure, I caught a pleasant shade ; 
Full smooth, and plain, and lusty for to seen, 
And soft as velvet was the yonge green : 
Where from my horse I did alight as fast, ' 

And on the bow aloft his reine cast. 
So faint and mate of weariness I was, 
That 1 me laid adoun upon the grass, 
Upon a brinke, shortly for to tell, 
Beside the river of a crystal well ; 
, And the water as I reherse can, 

^ Like quickesilver in his streams yran, 
Of which the gravel and the brighte stone, 
As any gold, against the sun y-shone. 

Sir John Fortescue. 1430-1470. 

It is cowardise and lack of liartes and corage that kepith 
the Frenchemen from rysyng, and not povertye ; which corage 
no Frencheman hath like to the English man. It hath ben 
often seen in England that iij or ij theves, for povertie hath 
sett upon vij or viij true men, and robbed them al. But it 
hath not been seen in France that vij or viij theves have ben 
hardy to robbe iij or iv true men. Wherfor it is right seld 
that Frenchemen be hangyd for robberye, for that they have 
no hertys to do so terrible an acte. There be therfor mo men 
hangyd in England in a yere for robberye and manslaughter 
than ther be hangyd in Fraunce for such cause of crime in 
vij yers, &c. 

Gavin Douglass. 1474-1522. 

Dame Nature's minstrals, on that other part, 
Their blissful lay, intoning every art. 
And all small fowhs singis on the spray, 
Welcome the lord of licht and lampe of day. 
Welcome fosterer of tender herbes green, 
Welcome quickener of flourist flowers sheen. 
Welcome support of every rute and vein, 
Welcome comfort of all kind fruit and grain, 
Welcome the birdis beild upon the brier, 
Welcome master and ruler of the year, 
Welcome weelfare of husbands at the plews, 
Welcome repairer of woods, trees, and bews, 



SPECIMENS OF MIDDLE ENGLISH. g7 

Welcome depainter of the bloomit meads, 
Welcome the life of every thing that spreads, 
Welcome storer of all kind bestial, 
Welcome be thy bright beamis gladdand all. 

William Caxton. 

In 1471 he printed the first book in the English language. 
In a note to this publication, Caxton says : ^' For as much 
as age creepeth on me daily and feebleth all the bodie, and 
also because I have promised divers gentlemen, and to my 
friends, to address to them, as hastily as I might, this said 
b6ok ; therefore I have practised and learned, at my great 
charge and dispence, to ordain this said book in print, after 
the manner and form as ye may here see, and is not written 
with pen and ink, as other books ben, to the end that all men 
may have them at once ; for all the books of this story, nam- 
ed The Recule of the Historeys of Troy es, thus emprinted, 
as ye here see, were begun in one day and also finished in 
one day." 

- Earl of Surrey. 1516-47. 

Martial, the things that do attain 
The happy life, be these I find, 
. The riches left, not got with gain. 

The fruitful ground, the quiet mind. 

The equal friend ; no grudge, no strife, 

No charge of rule or governance. 
Without disease, the healthful life, 

The household of continuance. 

The mean diet, no delicate fare, ' j ' 

True wisdom joined with simpleness ; 
The night discharged of all care, ; 

Where wine the wit may not oppress. 

The faithful wife, without debate, 

Such sleep as may beguile the night , 
Contented with thine own estate, 

Ne wish for death, ne fear his might. 

Sir Thomas More. 1480-1535. 

Mistress Alice, in my most heartywise I recommend me 
to you. And whereas I am informed by my son Heron of 
the loss of our barns and our neighbors' also, with all the 



(38 THE HISTORICAL ELEMENTS. 

corn that was therein ; albeit (saving God's pleasure) it were 
great pity of so much good corn lost ; yet since it has liked 
him to send us such a good chance, we must, and are bound- 
en not only to be content, but are also glad of his visitation. 
He sent us all that we have lost ; and since he hath by such 
a chance taken it away again, his pleasure be fulfilled ! Let 
us never grudge thereat, but take it in good worth, and thank 
him heartily as well for adversity as for prosperity. And 
peradventure we have more cause to thank him for our loss 
than for our winning, for his wisdom better seeth what is 
good for us than we do ourselves. Therefore I pray you, be 
of good cheer, and take all the household with you to church, 
and there thank God, both for that he has given us, and for 
that which he has taken from us, and for that he hath left us ; 
which, if it please him, he can increase when he will, and 
if it please him to leave us yet less, at his pleasure be it." 

Edmund Spenser. 1553—99. 

THE HOUSE OF SLEEP, 

He, making speedy way through spersed ayre, 
And through the world of waters wide and deepe, 
To Morpheus' house doth hastily repaire, 
Amid the bowels of the earth full steepe ; 
And low, where dawning day doth never peepe, 
His dwelling is, there Tethys his wet bed 
'-' Doth ever wash, and Cynthia still doth steepe 
In silver deaw his ever drouping hed, 
Whiles sad Night over him her mantle black doth spred. 

Whose double gates he findeth locked fast, 

The one fayre fram'd. of burnished yvory, 

The other all with silver overcast ; 

And wakeful dogges before them farre doe lye, 

Watching to banish care their enimy, 

Who oft is wont to trouble gentle sleep. 

By them the sprite doth pass in quietly, -^ 

And unto Morpheus comes, whom drouned deepe, 

In drowsie fit he findes ; of nothing he takes keepe. 

Sir Philip Sidney. 1554-86. 
Description of Arcadia. 
There were hills which garnished their proud heights with 
stately trees ; humble valleys, whose base estate seemed com- 



SPECIMENS OF MODERN ENGLISH. 59 

forted with the refreshing of silver rivers ; meadows, enam- 
elled with all sorts of eye-pleasing flowers ; thickets, which 
being lined with the most pleasant shade, were witnessed so to 
by the cheerful disposition of many well-tuned birds; each pas- 
ture stored with sheep, feeding with sober security, while the 
pretty lambs, with bleating oratory, craved the dam's com- 
fort ; here a shepherd's piping, as though he should never be 
old ; there a young shepherdess knitting, and withal singing ; 
and it seemed that her voice comforted her hands to work, 
and her hands kept time to her voice music. 

George Herbert. 1593—1632. 

RELIGION. 

All may of thee partake ; 

Nothing can be so mean, 
Which with this tincture, for thy sake, 

Will not grow bright and clean. 

ThiPis the famous stone 
That' turneth all to gold, 
" For that which God doth touch and own 
Cannot for less be told. 

, Sir Walter Raleigh. 1552—1618. 
The Strength of Kings. 
They say the goodliest cedars which grow on the high 
mountains of Libanus thrust their roots between the clefts 
of hard rocks, the better to bear themselves against the strong 
storms that blow there. As reason has instructed those 
kings of trees, so has reason taught the kings of men to root 
themselves in the hardy hearts of their faithful subjects ; and 
as those kings of trees have large tops, so have the kings of 
men large crowns, whereof, as the first would soon be broken 
from their bodies were they not underborne by many branch- 
es, so would the other easily totter were they not fastened on 
their heads by the strong chains of civil justice and martial 
discipline. 

Robert Herri ck. Born 1591. 

TO FIND GOD. 

Weigh me the fire ; or canst thou find 
A way to measure out the wind ; 



70 THE HISTORICAL ELEMENTS. 

Distinguish all those floods that are 

Mixt in that watery theatre, 

And taste thou them as saltless there 

As in their channel first they were. * 

Tell me the people that do keep 

Within the kingdoms of the deep ; 

Or fetch me back that cloud again, 

Beshivered into seeds of rain. 

Tell me the motes, dusts, sands, and spears 

Of corn, when Summer shakes his ears: 

Show me that world of stars, and whence 

They noiseless spill their influence. 

This if thou canst ; then show me Him 

That rides the glorious cherubim. 

Sir Thomas Browne. 1605—1682. 

Light the Shadow of God. 

Light, that makes things seen, makes some things invisi- 
ble. Were it not for darkness and the shadow of the earth, 
the noblest part of creation had remaineci unseen, and the 
stars in heaven as invisible as on the fourth day, v^hen they 
werei created above the horizon with the sun, and there was 
not an eye to behold them. The greatest mystery of relig- 
ion is expressed by adumbration, and in the noblest part of 
Jewish types we find the cherubim shadowing the mercy- 
seat. Life itself is but the shadow of death, and souls de- 
parted but the shadows of the living. All things fall under 
this name. The sun itself is but the dark simulacrum, and 
light but the shadow of God. 

Jeremy Taylor. 1613-1667. 

The Age of Reason and Discretion. 

We must not think that the life of a man begins when he 
can feed himself or walk alone, when he can fight or beget 
his like, for so is he contemporary with a camel or a cow ; 
but he is first a man when he comes to a certain steady use 
of his reason, according to his proportion ; and when that is, 
all the world of men cannot tell precisely. Some are called 
at age at fourteen, some at one-and-twenty, some never ; but 
all men late enough ; for the life of a man comes upon him 
slowly and insensibly. But, as when the sun approaching 



SPECIMENS OF MODERN ENGLISH. 7 j[ 

toward the gates of the morning, he first opens a little eye 
of heaven, and sends away the spirits of darkness, and gives 
light to a cock, and calls up the lark to matins, and bye and 
bye gilds the fringes of a cloud, and peeps over the eastern 
hills, thrusting out his golden horns like those which decked 
the brows of Moses when he was forced to wear a veil be- 
cause himself had seen the face of God ; and still, while a 
man tells the story, the sun gets up higher, till he shovs^s a fair 
face and a full light, and then he shines one whole day, un- 
der a cloud sometimes, and often weeping great and little 
showers, and sets quickly ; so is a man's reason and his life. 
He first begins to perceive himself, to see or taste, making 
little reflections upon his actions of sense, and can discourse 
of flies and dogs, shells and play, horses and liberty ; but 
when he is strong enough to enter into arts and little insti- 
tutions, he is at first entertained with trifles and imperti- 
nent things, not because he needs them, but' because his un- 
derstanding is no bigger ; and little images of things are laid 
before him, like a cock-boat to a whale, only to play withal : 
but before a man comes to be wise he is half dead with gouts 
and consumption, with catarrhs and aches, with sore eyes and 
worn-out body. So that, if we must not reckon the life of a 
man but by the accounts of his reason, he is long before his 
soul can be dressed ; and he is not to be called a man with- 
out a wise and adorned soul, a soul, at least, furnished with 
what is necessary toward his well-being. 

John Milton. 1608-74. 

Truth, indeed, came once into the world with her Divine 
Master, and was a perfect shape, most glorious to look upon ; 
but when he ascended, and his apostles after him were laid 
asleep, then straight arose a wicked race of deceivers, who, 
as that story goes of the Egyptian Typhon with his conspir- 
ators, how they dealt with the god Osiris, took the virgin 
Truth, hewed her lovely form into a thousand pieces, and scat- 
tered them to the four winds. From that time ever since, 
the sad friends of Truth, such as durst appear, imitating the 
careful search that Isis made for the mangled body of Osiris, 
went up and down, gathering up limb by limb still as they 



72 THE HISTORICAL ELEMENTS. 

could find them. We have not found them all yet, Lords 
and Commons ! nor ever shall do, till her Master's second 
coming ; he shall bring together every joint and member, and 
mold them into an immortal feature of loveliness and perfection. 

John Dryden. 1631-1700. 

To begin, then, with Shakspeare. He was the man who, 
of all modern, and perhaps ancient poets, had the largest and 
most comprehensive soul. All the images of nature were 
still present to him, and he drew them not laboriously, but 
luckily. When he describes any thing, you more than see 
it, you feel it too. Those that accuse him to have wanted 
learning give him the greater commendation. He was nat- 
urally learned ; he needed not the spectacles of books to read 
Nature ; he looked inward, and found her there. I can not 
say he is every where alike ; were he so, I should do him in- 
justice to compare him with the greatest of mankind. He 
is many times flat, insipid ; his comic wit degenerating into 
clinches, his serious swelling into bombast. But he is always 
great v/hen some great occasion is presented to him ; no man 
can say he ever had a fit subject for his wits and did not 
raise himself as high above the rest of poets. 

> " Quantum lenta solent inter viburna cupressi." 

Alexander Pope. 1688-1744. 
To Mrs. Martha Blount. 
Nothing could have more of that melancholy which once 
used to please me, than my last day's journey; for, after 
having passed through my favorite wood in the forest with 
a thousand reveries of past pleasures, I rid over hanging hills, 
whose tops were edged with groves, and whose feet watered 
with winding rivers, listening to the falls of cataracts below 
and the murmuring of the winds above ; the gloomy verdure 
of Stonor succeeded to these, and then the shades of the even- 
ing overtook me. The moon rose in the clearest sky I ever 
saw, by whose light I paced on slowly, without company or 
any interruption to the range of my thoughts. About a mile 
before I reached Oxford, all the bells tolled in different notes ; 
the clocks of every college answered one another, and sounded 



SPECIMENS OF MODERN ENGLISH. 73 

forth (some in a softer tone) that it was eleven at night. All 
this was no ill preparation to the life I have since led among 
those old walls, venerable galleries, stone porticoes, studious 
walks, and solitary scenes of the university. I wanted noth- 
ing but a black gown and a salary to be as mere a book- 
worm as any there. I conformed myself to the college hours, 
was rolled up in books, lay in one of the most ancient, dusky 
parts of the university, and was as dead to the world as any 
hermit of the desert. If any thing was alive and awake in 
me, it was a little vanity, such as even those good men used 
to entertain when monks of their own order extolled their 
piety and abstraction. For I found myself received with a 
sort of respect which this idle part of mankind, the learned, 
pay to their own species, who are as considerable here as the 
busy, the gay, and the ambitious are in your world. 

Dr. Samuel Johnson. 1709-1784. 

Junius burst into notice with a blaze of impudence which 
has rarely glared upon the world before, and drew the rabble 
after him as a monster makes a show. When he had once 
provided for his safety by impenetrable secrecy, he had noth- 
ing to combat but truth and justice, enemies whom he knows 
to be feeble in the dark. Being, then, at liberty to indulge 
himself in all the immunities of invisibility ; out of the reach 
of danger, he has been bold ; out of the reach of shame, he 
has been confident. As a rhetorician, he has had the art of 
persuading when he seconded desire ; as a reasoner, he has 
convinced those who had no doubt before ; as a moralist, he 
has taught that virtue may disgrace ; and, as a patriot, he 
has gratified the mean by insults on the high. Finding sedi- 
tion ascendant, he has been able to advance it ; finding the 
nation combustible, he has been able to inflame it. Let us 
abstract from his wit the vivacity of insolence, and withdraw 
from his efficacy the sympathetic favor of plebeian malignity ; 
I do not say that we shall leave hirn nothing : the cause that 
I defend scorns the help of falsehood ; but if we leave him 
only his merit, what shall we praise ? 




74 THE HISTORICAL ELEMENTS. 



Lord Francis Jeffrey. 1817. 

Every thing in him (Shakspeare) is in unmeasured abun- 
dance and unequaled perfection, but every thing so balanced 
arid kept in subordination as not to jostle, or disturb, or 
take the place of another. The most exquisite poetical de- 
scriptions are given with such brevity, and introduced with 
such skill as merely to adorn, without loading the sense they 
accompany. Although his sails are purple, and perfumed, 
and his prow of beaten gold, they waft him on his voyage, 
not less, but more rapidly and directly, than if they had been 
composed of baser materials. All excellences, like those of 
Nature herself, are thrown out together, and, instead of inter- 
fering with, support and recommend each other. His flow- 
ers are not tied up in garlands, nor his fruits crushed into 
baskets, but spring living from the soil, in all the dew and 
freshness of youth, while the graceful foliage in which they 
lurk, and the ample branches, the rough and vigorous stem, 
and the wide-spreading roots on which they depend, are pres- 
ent along with them, and share in their places the equal care 
of their Creator. 

FROM MODERN PAINTERS, BY A GRADUATE OF OX- 
FORD. 1845-9. 

And yet people speak in this working age, when they 
speak from their hearts, as if houses, and lands, and food, and 
raiment were alone useful, and as if sight, thought, and ad- 
miration were all profitless ; so that men insolently call them- 
selves Utilitarians, who would turn, if they had their way, 
themselves and their race into vegetables ; men who think, 
as far as such can be said to think, that the meat is more 
than the life, and the raiment than the body ; who look to the 
earth as a stable, and to its fruit as fodder ; vine-dressers and 
husbandmen, who love the corn they grind and the grapes 
they crush better than the gardens of the angels upon the 
slopes of Eden ; hewers of wood and drawers of water, who 
think that the wood they hew and the water they draw are 
better than the pine-forests that cover the mountains like the 
shadow of God, and the great rivers that move like his eter- 



TENDENCIES OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 75 

iiity. And so comes upon us that woe of the preacher, that 
though God '' hath made every thing beautiful in his time, 
also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can 
find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to 
the end." 

§ 40. Having traced the Origin and History of the English 
language from its birth to its maturity in the age of Queen 
Elizabeth, when it passed from the stage of Middle English 
to that of Modern English, and from that epoch, by a few ex- 
amples, to near the middle of the present century, we are 
prepared to examine its Present Tendencies. It ought, how- 
ever, in passing, to be remarked, that though during her 
reign the capabilities of the language w^ere fully developed in 
the forms of strength and elegance, both in prose and poetry, 
it was somewhat Latinized by such writers as Sir Thomas 
Browne, as afterward it was somewhat Gallicized by Dry- 
den and the wits of Queen Anne's time. 

1. The distinction between the Subjunctive and the Indic- 
ative Mode is likely to pass av/ay. We verify this by the 
very general tendency to say If it is, and If he speaks, for 
If it be, and If he speak. 

2. The distinction between the Participle Passive and the 
Past Tense is likely to pass away. We verify this by the 
tendency to say, It is broke, and He is smote, for It is bro- 
ken, and He is smitten. 

3. Of the double forms. Sang and Sung, Drank and Dnmk^ 
&c., only one will be permanent. 

4. It is the general tendency of the language to return to 
the fullest use of the Saxon element, both in words and idi- 
oms. Other tendencies will be noticed in the Etymological 
and Syntactical part. 

§ 41. What the present language of England would have 
been had the Norman Conquest never taken place, the anal- 
ogy of Holland, Denmark, and of many other countries, will 
enable us to determine. It would have been much as it is at 
present. What it would have been had the Saxon Conquest 
never taken place, is a question wherein there is far more 
speculation. Of France, of Italy, of Wallachia, of the Span- 



76 THE HISTORICAL ELEMENTS. 

ish Peninsula, the analogies all point the same way. They 
indicate that the original Celtic would have been superseded 
by the Latin of the Conquerors, and, consequently, that our 
language, in its later stages, would have been neither British 
nor Gaelic, but Roman. Upon these analogies, however, we 
may refine. Italy was from the beginning Roman ; the 
Spanish Peninsula was invaded full early ; no ocean divided 
Gaul from Rome ; and the war against the ancestors of the 
Wallaohians was a war of extermination. 

§ 42. In the History of the English language we have seen 
that the principal Elements which enter into its composition 
are, 1. Celtic words, found either in the older branch of the 
Gaelic or in the younger branch of the Cambrian. 2. Latin 
words, introduced at different periods. 3. Saxon words, of 
the Low-Germanic Division of the Teutonic branch of the 
Gothic stock. This constitutes the great body of the lan- 
guage. 4. Danish words of the Scandinavian branch of the 
Gothic. 5. Norman, a mixture of French and Scandinavian. 
It is also enriched by contributions from the Greek, the 
French, the Italian, the Spanish, the German, and other lan- 
guages. 

THE NUMBER OF ANGLO-SAXON WORDS. 

§ 43. Whether we take into view the number or the sorts 
of words, the Anglo-Saxon is less an element than the Moth- 
er-tongue of the English. In the English language there 
are aS many as twenty-three thousand words of Anglo-Sax- 
on origin. From an examination of passages from the Bible, 
Shakspeare, Milton, Cowley, Thomson, Addison, Spenser, 
Locke, Pope, Young, Gibbon, Johnson, it appears that in 
one thousand four hundred and ninety-two words in senten- 
ces taken from these authors, there are only two hundred not 
Saxon. Upon this basis of calculation, it appears that four 
fifths of the words in actual use are of Anglo-Saxon origin. 

THE KIND OF WORDS. 

§ 44. The names of the greater part of the objects of Na- 
ture ; as, sun, moon, stag's, day, light, heat ; all those words 
which express vividly bodily action ; as, to sit, to stand, to 



EXPRESSIVENESS. 77 

stagger ; all those words which are expressive of the earli- 
est and dearest connections ; ^^y father, mother, brother, sis- 
ter, are Anglo-Saxon. Moreover, all those words which have 
been earliest used, and which are invested with the strongest 
associations ; most of those objects about which the Practical 
reason is employed in common life; nearly all our National 
Proverbs ; a large proportion of the language of invective, 
humor, satire, and colloquial pleasantry, are Anglo-Saxon. 
While our most abstract and general terms are derived from 
the Latin, those which denote the special varieties of objects, 
qualities, and modes of action are derived from the Anglo- 
Saxon. Thus, color is Latin ; but white, black, green, are 
Anglo-Saxon. Crime is Latin ; but murder, theft, robbery, 
to lie, are Anglo-Saxon. » 

THE EXPRESSIVENESS. 

§ 45. From the last statement we can understand why 
the Saxon element is so much more expressive than the Lat- 
in part of the language. '' Well being arises from well do- 
ing," is Saxon. " Felicity attends virtue," is Latin. How 
inferior in force is the latter ! In the Saxon phrase, the parts 
or roots being significant to our eyes and ears, throw the 
whole meaning into the compounds and derivatives, while the 
Latin words of the same import, having their roots and ele- 
ments in a foreign language, carry only a cold and conven- 
tional signification to an English ear. '' In one of my early 
interviews with Robert Hall," says his biographer, " I used 
the term ' felicity' three or four times in rather quick suc- 
cession. He asked me, ' Why do you say Felicity ? Hap- 
piness is a better word, more musical, and genuine English, 
coming from the Saxon.' ' Not more musical,' said I. ' Yes, 
more musical, and so are all words derived from the Saxon, 
generally. Listen, sir : My heart is smitten and withered 
like grass. There is plaintive music. Listen again, sir : 
Under the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice. There is 
cheerful music' < Yes, but rejoice is French.' 'True, 
but all the rest is Saxon ; and rejoice is almost out of time 
with the other words. Listen again : Thou hast delivered 
my soul from death, my eyes from tears, and my feet from 



7S THE HISTORICAL ELEMENTS. 

falling. All Saxon, sir, except delivered. I could think of 
the word tear till I wept." 

ENGLISH GRAMMAR AND THE ANGLO-SAXON. 

§ 46. English Grammar is almost exclusively occupied with 
what is of Anglo-Saxon origin. The few inflections we have 
are all Anglo-Saxon. The English Genitive, the general 
mode of forming the Plural of Nouns, and the terminations by 
which we express the Comparative and Superlative of Adjec- 
tives er and est^ the inflections of the Pronouns and of the 
Verbs, and the most frequent termination of our adverbs ly^ 
are all Anglo-Saxon ; so are the auxiliary verbs. 

THE STABILITY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 

§ 47. <' Look at the English," says Halbertsma, '' pol- 
luted by Danish and Norman Conquests, distorted in its 
genuine and noble features by old and recent endeavors to 
mould it after the French fashion, invaded by a hostile force 
of Greek and Latin words, threatening by increasing hosts to 
overwhelm the indigenous terms. In these long contests 
against the combined might of so many forcible enemies, the 
language, it is true, has lost some of its power of inversion 
in the structure of sentences, the means of denoting the dif- 
ferences of gender, and the nice distinctions by inflection and 
termination ; almost every word is attacked by the spasm 
of the accent and the drawing of consonants to wrong po- 
sitions, yet the old English principle is not overpowered. 
Trampled down by the ignoble feet of strangers, its spring 
still retains force enough to restore itself ; it lives and plays 
through all the veins of the language, it impregnates the in- 
numerable strangers entering into its dominions, and stains 
them with its color ; not unlike the Greek, which, in taking 
up Oriental words, stripped them of their foreign costume, 
and bid them appear as native Greeks." — Bos. Dic.^ p. 39. 

Camden observes : '' Whereas our tongue is mixed, it is 
no disgrace. The Italian is pleasant, but without sinews, as 
still fleeting water. The French delicate, but ever nice as 
a woman, scarce daring to open her lippes for fear of marring 
her countenance. The Spanish majestical, but fulsome, 



PROSPECTS OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 79 

running too much on the o, terrible like the Divill in the 
play. The Dutch manlike, but withal very harsh, as one 
ready at every word to picke a quarrell. Now vfe, in bor- 
rowing from them, give the strength of consonants to the 
Italian ; the full sound of words to the French ; the variety 
of terminations to the Spanish ; and the mollifying of more 
vowels to the Dutch ; and so, like bees, we gather the honey 
of their good properties, and leave the dregs to themselves. 
And thus, when substantialnesse combineth with delightful- 
nesse, fullnesse with iinenesse, seemlinesse with portlinesse, 
and currentnesse with staydnesse, how can the language 
which consisteth in all these, sound other than full of all 
sweetnesse ?" — Camden's Remains, p. 38. 

THE PROSPECTS OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 

§ 48. Having looked at the past History of the English 
Language, we naturally inquire what will be its ultimate 
Destiny. Will it ever cease to be a living language ? Will 
the nations who speak it ever be overrun by a race of Asiat- 
ic barbarians, as were the Classical nations of Antiquity ? 
Will another Julius Caesar, another Hengist and Horsa, 
another Danish Canute, another Norman Conqueror, in turn 
gain possession of England, and change the dynasty, the 
laws, and the language of the land ? And, then, is the fate 
of the Mother-country to be our own ? Will a band of ir- 
resistible warriors come from the ocean to change our insti- 
tutions, our laws, and our language ? Will our mother- 
tongue, like the Greek, the Latin, the Sanscrit, and the 
Anglo-Saxon, become a dead' language, and be found only in 
books? 

To this it may be replied, that the experience of the past 
is not to be the mold of the future. From the horoscope of 
the present a brighter destiny may be predicted. The An- 
glo-Saxon race will not only keep their own Institutions and 
their own Language, but they will impress those institutions 
and that language upon others. Besides the natural growth 
of population, that love of Conquest for which they have been 
distinguished ever since they traversed the German Ocean 
in their frail boats, pursuing plunder, will help to extend and 



80 DIALECTS AND PROVINCIALISMS. 

perpetuate the English language. The love of Religious 
conquest, as when the pious Missionary goes forth under the 
banner of the cross ; the love of Literary conquest, as when 
the Schoolmaster is abroad ; the love of Commercial con- 
quest, as shown by our Merchants and Navigators ; the love 
of Military conquest, which the Anglo-Saxon race have shown 
all over the globe, and are now showing, will only extend the 
language. The British Empire, extending over one hundred 
and fifty-six millions, listens to that language as to a voice 
of power. The population of our own country, doubling 
every twenty-five years, already amounts to more than twen- 
ty millions. The French population of Canada, the Celts, 
the Spanish population of Mexico, the Celts, will give place 
to the Anglo-Saxon race, or rather, as in past time, be ab- 
sorbed in it. We may believe that, fixed in the standards 
of the National literature, the language of the Constitution 
will be faniiliar to the hundreds of millions in North Ameri- 
ca as their vernacular tongue ; and that Shakspeare and Mil- 
ton will be read ages hence on the banks of the Connecticut 
and the Potomac, on the banks of the Columbia and the 
Francisco. 



CHAPTER III. 

DIALECTS AND PROVINCIALISMS OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 

§ 49. Calling to mind the Celts, the Saxons, the Jutes, 
the Angles, the Danes, the Normans, who were ancestors of 
those who now dwell in England and Anglo- America, we 
can not fail to expect diversities in the language as now writ- 
ten and spoken. 

That Celtic words should most readily be found in districts 
like Cornwall, where a Celtic language was most lately spok- 
en, is what we expect, and what we find. Peculiarities of 
dialect may be expected^ I. In Cumberland and the district 
of Strath Clyde. The Celtic of Wales was spoken north of 
its present boundaries, one of its forms being the Pictisb. 



PROSPECTS OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. Ql 

On the north, it came in contact with the Scotch- Gaelic. 

II. Cornwall and Devonshire. Traces of the Celtic of Corn- 
wall, which was spoken in that country within a century. 

III. Galloway, the Lothians, and the whole line of the Wall 
of Severus. This was the latest locality of the Picts. IV. 
The neighborhood of Melrose, in Scotland. V. The neigh- 
borhood of Haverfordwest, in Wales. In each of these pla- 
ces was introduced, in the reign of Henry I., a colony of 
Flemings. VI. The county of Wexford. In the Irish coun- 
ty of Wexford there is a very peculiar English dialect. In 
the reign of Richard II. there were transplanted thither a 
number of English families. These families still keep them- 
selves distinct from the Irish Gaels, and are said to preserve 
the language as it was spoken in the time of Chaucer. 

Of the Jutes we seek traces, if any where, in Hampshire 
and the Isle of Wight ; of the Frisians, in Kent ; of the Sax- 
ons, in Berks, Wilts, and Somerset; of the Angles, in Nor- 
folk and Suffolk ; of the Scandinavians, in Lincolnshire, York- 
shire, and Northumberland. 

In the provincial dialects, among many others, there are 
the following old forms : 

1. An infinitive form in. ie ; as, to sowie, to reapie : 
Wiltshire. 

2. The participial form in -and; as, go-and^ step-and: 
Lincolnshire, Northumberland, Scotland. 

3. The common use of the termination 4h^ in the third 
person present ; goeth, liath^ speaketh : Devonshire. 

4. Plural forms in en; as, housen: Leicestershire and 
elsewhere. 

5. Old preterit forms of certain verbs ; as, 

Clomb from Climb, Hereford and elsewhere. 



Hove 


* Heave, " 


Puck 


' Pick, « 


Shuck 


« Shook, 


Squoze 


« Squeeze, " 


Sew 


' Sow, Essex. 


Rep 


' Reap, « 


Mew 


« Mow, " 



The following changes, a few out of many, are matters not 
of Grammar, but of Pronunciation : 

F 



82 DIALECTS AND PROVINCIALISMS. 

Ui for 00 ; as, cuil^ bluid, for cool, blood: Cumberland, 
Scotland. Oy for i ; as, foyne, twoyne, for fine, twine : 
Cheshire, Cambridgeshire, Suffolk. Oy for oo ; as, foyt for 
foot : Halifax. Oi for o ; as, noite, foil, for note, foal : 
Halifax. Oy for a ; as, loyne for /fl^?^e ; Halifax. Ooy for 
00 ; as, nooyn, pooyl, for woo^, pool : Halifax. "PT inserted ; 
as, spwort, scworn, for sport, scorn : Cumberland, West Rid- 
ing of Yorkshire. Ew for oo or yoo ; as, tewn for tune : 
Suffolk, Westmoreland. Iv for oo or yoo, when a vowel fol- 
lows ; as, Samivel for Samuel. O for o?/ ; as, boh for ^02/ ; 
Suffolk. Oo for oz^ ; as, broon for brown : Billsdale. Ee 
for z ; as, neet for night : Cheshire. O for c^^^ / as, bawn 
for bound : Westmoreland. Ee for « ; as, theere for ^Aare ; 
Cumberland. Ee for e ; as, reed, seeven, for rg^^, seven : 
Craven. A for o ; as, sazV for sore : Cumberland, Scotland. 
A for o ; as, s<2/^ for soft : Cheshire. O for d ; as, mo?z for 
man : Cheshire. Y inserted before a vowel ; as, styake, 
ryape, for stake and rape : Borrowdale ; especially after g ; 
as, gyarden, gyown, for garden, gown : Warwickshire. H 
inserted ; as, hoften, hopen, for often, open. H omitted ; 
as, at, ard, for hat, hard: passim. 

Transition of Consonants. 

B for V ; as, Whitehebbon for Wliitehaven : Borrowdale. 
P for b ; as, poat for boat : Welsh pronunciation. Ffor /; 
as, vindiox find : Devonshire, Kent. T for d final ; as, deet 
for deed : Borrowdale. T for ch {tsh) ; as, fet for fetch : 
Devonshire. D for j (dzh) ; as, sled for sledge : Hereford. 
D for th ; as, wid for zi^zYA, tudder for ^/ie o^Ae?* : Borrow- 
dale, Westmoreland ; drash for thrash : Devonshire. K for 
cA Ush^ ; as, ^Aacyfc for thatch : Westmoreland, Lincolnshire. 
G for j (dzh^ ; as, brig for bridge : Lincolnshire, Hereford. 
G preserved from the Anglo-Saxon ; as, lig, lie : Lincoln- 
shire. Z for s; as, zee for see: Devonshire. S for sh ; as, 
sail for 5^<2Z/ ; Craven, Scotland. W for i? ; as, ivieiv for 
view: Essex, London. N for 7^o'; as, bleedin for bleed- 
ing: Cumberland, Scotland. Sk for sA ; as, busk for Z»?^s/i • 
Halifax. 



SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS. 33 

Ejection of Letters. 

K before 5, the preceding vowel being lengthened, b 
of compensation ; as, neist for next : Halifax. D ^ 
after a consonant ; as, gol for gold^ siller for silver : Sui- 
folk. The ejection of/ is rarer ; m7/sel for myself , however, 
occurs in most dialects. L final, after a short vowel, in which 
^ase the vowel is lengthened ; as, poo for pull : Cheshire, 
Scotland. Al changed to a open ; as, hawf for half, sau- 
mon for salmon: Cumberland. 

Transposition. 

Transpositions of the liquid r are common in all the pro- 
vincial dialects ; as, gars, brid, perty, for grass, bird, pretty. 
Here the provincial forms are the oldest, gaers, hrid, &:>g., 
being the Anglo-Saxon forms. 

SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS. 
SOMERSET DIALECT. 

Farmer Bennet. Jan ! why dwont ye right my shoes ? 

Jan Lide. Bin, maester, 'tis zaw cawld, I can't work 
wi' tha' tacker at all ; I've a brawk it ten times, I'm shower, 
ta da — da vreaze za hord. Why, Hester hanged out a kit- 
tle-smock to drowy, an in dree minits a war a vraur as stiff 
as a pawker ; an I can't avoord to keep a good vier — I wish 
I cood — I'd zoon right your shoes and withers too — I'd zoon 
yarn zum money, I warnt ye. Can't ye vine zum work vox 
me, maester, thease hord times ? I'll do any theng ta sar a 
penny. I can drash — I can cleave brans — I can make spars 
— I can thatchy — I can shear ditch, an I can gripy too, bit 
da vreaze za hord. I can wimmy — I can messy or milky, 
nif ther be need o't. I ood'n mine dreavin plough, or any 
theng. 

Farmer Bennet. I've a got nothin vor ye ta do, Jan ; bit 
Mister Boord banehond ta I jist now that tha war gwain ta 
wimmy, an that tha wanted zumbody ta help 'em. 

EXMOOR DIALECT. 

Andrew. Well, Cozen Magery, cham glad you're come agen. 



84 DIALECTS AND PROVINCIALISMS. 

Margery. Wull ye eat a croust o' brid and chezee, Cozen 
Andra ? 

Andrew. No, es thankee, Cozen Magery ; vor es eat a crub 
as es come along ; bezides, es wint to dinner jist avore. Well, 
bet. Cozen Magery, whot onser dest gi' ma to tha quesson es 
put vore now-reert. 

Margery. What quesson was et ? 

Andrew. Why, zure, ya bant zo vorgetvul. Why, tha 
quesson es put a little rather. 

Margery. Es dont know what quesson ye meean ; es be- 
git whot quesson twos. 

Andrew. Why, to tell tha vlat and plane agen, twos thes : 
Wut ha ma, ay or no ? 

Margery. Whot ! marry to Earteen ? Es gee tha zame 
onser es geed avore, es wudent marry tha best man in oil 
Ingland. Es cud amorst zwear chud ne'er marry at oil. 
And more and zo. Cozen Andra, cham a told ya keep compa- 
ny wey Tamzen Hosegood. And nif ya keep hare company, 
es '11 ha no more to zey to tha. 

DERBYSHIRE DIALECT. 

Farmer Bennet. Tummus, why dunner yo mend meh 
shoon ? 

Tummus hide. Becoz, mester, 'tis zo cood, I cornier work 
wee the tachin at aw ; I've brockn it ten times, I'm shur, to 
de — it freezes zo hard. Why, Hester hung out a smock- 
frock to dry, an in three minits it wor frozzen as stiff as a 
proker, an I cornier afford to keep a good fire — I wish I cud 
— I'd soon mend yore shoon, an uthers tow — I'd soon yarn 
sum munney, I warrant ye. Conner yo find zum work for 
m', mester, these hard times ? I'll doo onny think to addle 
a penny. I con thresh — I con split wood — I con mak spars 
— I con thack. I con skower a dike, an I can trench tow, 
bur it freezes zo hard. I con winner, I can fother, or milk, 
if there be need on't. I woodner mind drivin plow, or onny 
think. 

Farmer Bennet. I banner got nothin for ye to doo, Tum- 
mus ; bud Mester Boord towd me jist now that they wor go- 
in to winner, an that they shud want sumbody to help 'em 



SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS. 35 

LANCASHIRE DIALECT. 

Tummus. Odds me ! Meary, whooa the dickons wou'd o' 
thowt 0' leeting 0' thee here so soyne this morning? Where 
has to bin ? Theaw'rt aw on a swat, I think, for theaw 
looks primely. 

Mea7"y. Beleemy, Tummus, I welly lost my wynt ; for I've 
had sitoh 0' traunce this morning as eh neer had e' meh live ; 
for I went to Jone's 0' Harry's o' lung Jone's, for't borrow their 
thible, to stur th' fumetry weh, an his wife had lent it to Bet 
o' my gronny's ; so I skeawrt eend wey, and when eh coom 
there, hoo'd lent it Kester 0' Dick's, and the dule steawnd 'im 
for a brindl't cur, he'd mede it int' shoon pegs I Neaw wou'd 
naw sitch o' moonshine traunce potter anybody's plucks ? 

Tummus. Mark whot e tell the, Meary ; for I think lun- 
ger ot fok liv'n an' th' moor mischoances they han. 

CRAVEN DIALECT. 

Giles. Good morning to the, Bridget, how isto ? 

Bridget. Deftly as out, and as cobby as a lop, thanksto. 

Giles. Wha, marry, thou looks i gay good fettle. 

Bridget. What thinksto o't weather ? Awr house is vara 
unrid and grimy, t'chimla smudges an reeks seea, an mackst' 
reckon, at used to shimmer and giissen, nowght bud soote 
an muck. 

Giles. It's now a vara lithe day, bud there war a girt 
roak, an a rag o't fells at delleet, an it looked feaful heavisome. 

Bridget. I oft think a donky, mislin, deggy mornin is a 
sign o't pride o't weather, for it oft worsels up, an is maar 
to be liked ner t'element full 0' thunner packs er a breet, 
scaumy sky. 

STAFFORDSHIRE DIALECT. 

Wife. Dun you know Suden Mouth, Tummy ? 

Boatman. Eees ; an' a neation good feller he is tew. " 

Wife. A despret quoiet man, but he loves a sup o' drink. 
Dun yo know his woif ? 

Boatman. Know her ? ay. Her's the very devil when her 
sperits up. 



86 DIALECTS AND PROVINCIALISMS. 

Wife. Her is. Her uses that man sheamfull ; her rags 
him every neet of her loif. Who was her feyther ? 

Boatman. Whoy, Singing Jemmy. 

Wife. Oi don't think as how oi ever knowed Singing Jem- 
my. Was he old Soaker's brother ? 

Boatman. Ees he was. He lived a top o' Hell Bank. 
He was the wickedest j swearinest man as ever I knowed. I 
should think as how he was the wickedest man in the world, 
and they say he had the rheiimatiz so bad. 

WILTSHIRE DIALECT. 

A harnet zet in a hollur tree, 
A proper spiteful twoad was he ; 
And merrily zung while he did zet, 
His sting as shearp as a bagganet : 
" Oh ! who so fine and bold as 1 1 
I fears not bee, nor wapse, nor viy." 

A bittle up thuck tree did dim, 
And scornfully did look at him ; 
Zays he, " Zur harnet, who give thee 
A right to zet in thuck there tree 1 

Vor all you zengs so nation fine, 

I tell 'ee, 'tis a house of mine." 

The harnet's conscience velt a twinge ; 
But grawin bowld wi' his long stinge, 
Zays he, " Possession's the best laaw ; 
Zo here th' shant put a claaw ; 

Be off, and leave the tree to me. 

The mixen's good enough for thee." 

Just then a yuckel passin by, 

Was axed by them the cause to try : 

" Ha, ha ! I zee how 'tis," zays he ; 

" They'll make a vamous munch vor me !" 

His bill was shearp, his stomach lear, 

Zo up a snapped the caddlin pair. 

PECULIARITIES OF THE COCKNEY DIALECT. 

I. Phonology. 

§ 50. 1. The Londoner or Cockney pronounces w for v, 
£ind V for w ; as, weal for veal, vicked for wicked. He seems, 
not to have understood why the consonant u of the Latins, 
which was not distinguished in writing from the vowel «, 



SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS. 37 

should be pronounced v {^=bli), while the consonant u of the 
Anglo-Saxons, which had a distinct character from the vowel 
Uy was pronounced w. And it must be confessed that the 
rule is somewhat arbitrary. This interchange of w and v is 
the most offensive peculiarity of the Cockney dialect. 

2. The Londoner is also accustomed to omit the sound of 
h at the beginning of words, and to pronounce it where it 
does not belong ; as, art for heart ; harm for arm. 

8. He has a fondness for the sound of j (=dzh)] as, fur- 
hidge ioY furbish ; radidges for radishes; rubbidge for rub- 
bish ; to scrowdge for to croiod ; skrimidge for skirmish ; 
squeedge for squeeze. 

4. He sometimes transposes letters, especially where r is 
concerned ; as, ax for ask ; palaretic for paralytic ; perdig- 
ious for prodigious ; perwent for prevent ; progidy for prod.- 
igy ; vemon for venom ; vemonous for venomous. 

5. He sometimes inclines to repeat the same vowel; as, 
colloguing for colleaguing ; nisi prisi for nisi prius ; ob- 
stropolous for obstreperous. 

6. He sometimes employs a lingual d or t after a lingual 
n or I, by epenthesis or paragoge ; as, droiunded for drowned ; 
gownd for gown ; partender for partner ; bacheldor for bach- 
elor ; mar gent for margin ; regiment iox regimen ; sermont 
for sermon ; surgeont for surgeon ; verment for vermin. 

7. He employs a t after a sibilant ; as, dost and closter 
for close and closer ; nyst and nyster for nice and nicer ; 
sinst for since, wonst for o^zce. 

8. He sometimes makes an unnecessary syllable ; as, 
beast-es for beasts ; fist-es for fists ; ghost-es for ghosts ; 
mist-es for mist ; post-es for post. 

9. He sometimes lays a false accent ; as, blasphemous for 
blasphemous ; character for chdracter ; contrary for contrary 

II. Derivation of Words. 

1. The Londoner sometimes confounds two different forms , 
as, contagious for contiguous ; eminent for imminent ; hu- 
morous for humorsome ; ingeniously for ingenuously ; lux- 
urious for luxuriant ; scrupulosity for scruple ; successfully 
for successively. 



88 DIALECTS AND PROVINCIALISMS. 

2. He sometimes forms words on the wrong model ; as, 
admiraltry for admiralty ; commonality for commonalty ; 
curous for curious ; curosity for curiosity ; debiliated for de- 
bilitated ; despisable for despicable ; loveyer for lover ; may- 
or altry for mayoralty ; necessuated for necessitated ; stupen- 
dious for stupendous. 

3. He sometimes forms words on a false model ; as, at- 
tacted like transacted ; duberous and industerous like bois- 
terous ; musicianer like practitioner ; jocotious like fero- 
cious ; summonsed as if from summons; vulgularity like 
singularity. 

4. He sometimes mistakes the word altogether ; as, ag- 
gravate for irritate ; an otomy for anatomy ; argufy for sig- 
nify ; conquest for concourse ; mislest for molest ; moval for 
model ; pee-ashes for piazzas ; refuge for refuse ; stagnated 
for staggered ; vocation for vacation. 

III. Composition of Words. 

The Londoner sometimes retains the prefixes be and a, 
which have been discarded ; as, begrudge, unbek?iown ; a- 
cold, a-dry, a-hungry. 

IV. Inflection. 

1. The Londoner sometimes repeats the definite article; 
as, the f other for the other. 

2. He uses double comparatives and superlatives ; as, 
ivorser for worse. 

3. He forms hisn, ourn, hern, yourn, like mine, thine. 

4. He forms hisself and theirselves regularly. 

5. He has adopted the modern inflection in some verbs, 
where it has not been generally followed; as, see''d for saw; 
know^d for knew ; com'^d for came. 

6. He forms fit for fought ; comp. light, pret. lit. 

7. He uses the past tense for the perfect participle ; as, 
fell for fallen; rose for risen; took for taken; ivent for 
gone ; wrote for written. 

8. He uses no-hows for no-how, and no-ivheres for wo- 
where. 



LOWLAND SCOTCH. 



89 



V. Syntax or Construction. 

1. He uses the accusative for the nominative ; as, can us 
for can we ; have us for have we ; may us for may loe ; shall 
us for shall we. 

2. He employs double negatives, like the ancient Anglo- 
Saxons ; as, I donH know nothing about it. 

3. The use of the ancient full expression, which has been 
abridged in modern times ; as, and so for simple so ; how that 
and as how, denoting the simple fact ; if so be as how, denot- 
ing a contingency ; for to, denoting a purpose ; for why or 
because why, denoting the reason. 

4. Idiomatic expressions ; as, a few while for a little while; 
to fetch a walk for to take a walk ; what is gone with such 
an one ? for what is become of such an one ? to learn for to 
teach ; what may his name be ? for what is his name ? what 
should he be ? for what is he? to remember for to remind ; 
gone dead like gone crazy ; this here for this ; that there 
for that. 

The following little dialogue is said to have passed between. 
a London citizen and his servant. 

Citizen. Villiam, I vants my vig. 

Servant. Vitch vig, sir ? 

Citizen. Vy, the vite vig in the vooden vig-box, vitch I 
vore last Vensday at the westry. 

LOWLAND SCOTCH. 

§ 51. Concerning the origin of the Lowland Scotch there 
are two theories. The current one is, that, like the present 
English, it is derived from the Anglo-Saxon, and consequent- 
ly introduced from the South. The marriage of Malcolm 
Canmor with Margaret, sister of Prince Edgar of England, 
which introduced many of the English into the court of 
Scotland, and the intercourse between the Scots of the South 
and the English of the North, and, finally, the immigration of 
English families into Scotland, have each, severally or col- 
lectively, been put forward as the immediate causes of the 
introduction of the English language into Scotland. 

In support of the other theory it is alleged, 1. That there 



90 DIALECTS AND PROVINCIALISMS. 

are in Lowland Scotch a number of words which, although 
Teutonic, were never Anglo-Saxon. 2. That the causes ad- 
duced are insufficient to effect the change in point. 8. That 
so far from the Lowland Scotch being a mere dialect of the 
English, it has all the qualities of a regular and cultivated 
language. Hence the conclusion that the Scottish is no 
daughter of the Anglo-Saxon, but a sister ; no derived lan- 
guage, but a parallel one. 

While there appears to be evidence that the Gothic of the 
Scandinavian branch was introduced into the northern part 
of Scotland at a period earlier than that in which the Danes 
made their incursions into England in the days of Alfred, still 
this will not account for the Teutonic words which abound 
in the language spoken in the South. The language of 
Orkney may be Norse or Scandinavian ; that of the Lo- 
thians may be Saxon. 

In the way of orthography, the most characteristic differ- 
ence between the English and Scotch is the use, on the part 
of the latter, of qu for wh ; as, qulien^ quliare^ quhat^ for 
when, where, what. The substitution of sch for sh ; as, 
scJio for she ; and of z for the old English 3 (as zour for 
zeowr, your), is as much Northern English as Scotch. 

In pronunciation, the substitution oid for ^ (if not a point 
of spelling), as, in fader iox father ; of a for <?, as baith for 
both ; of s for sh, as sail for shall ; and the use of the gut- 
tural sound of ch, as in loch, nocht, are the same. 

The ejection of n before t, or an allied sound, and the 
lengthening of the preceding vowel by way of compensation, 
as in begouth for beginning, seems truly Scotch. It is the 
same change that in Greek turns the radical syllable b66vT 
into ocfov^. 

The formation of the plural of verbs in -s rather than in 
'th (the Anglo-Saxon form), is Northern English as well as 
Scotch : Scotch, slepys, lovys ; Northern English, slepis, 
lovis ; Old English, slepen, loven ; Anglo-Saxon, slepia^, 
lupia^. 

The formation of the plural number of the genitive by the 
addition of the syllable -is {blastis, birdis, bloomis), instead 
of the letter s, blasts, birds, blooms, carries with it a metric- 



AMERICAN DIALECTS. gi 

al advantage, inasmuch as it gives a greater number of double 
rhymes. The same may be said of the participial forms, af- 
frayit^ assurit^ioi affrayd^ assured. 

FROM BLIND HARRY's POEM, WALLACE, 1460. 

" A lord off court, quhen he approchyt thar, 
Wnwisytly sperd, with outyn prouision ; 
V ' Wallace, dar ye go fecht on our lioun V 

And he said, ' Ya, so the king suffyr me ; 
Or on your selff, gyff ye ocht bettyr be.' 
Quhat will ye mar % this thing amitty t was, 
That Wallace suld on to the lioun pas. 
The king thaim chargyt, to bring him gud harnas ; 
Then he said, ' Nay, God schield me fra sic cass. 
I wald take weid, suld I fecht with a man ; 
But (for) a dog, that nocht off armes can, 
I will haiff nayn, bot synglar as I ga.' " 

AMERICAN DIALECTS. 

§ 52. The first English settlers of the United States, com- 
ing from different parts of England, brought with them the 
varieties of dialect then existing in the mother-country. To 
these were added the Dutch, or the Low Germanic language 
in the state of New York ; the German, or the High Ger- 
manic language, spoken by hundreds of thousands in Penn- 
sylvania and elsewhere ; the French and Spanish languages^ 
spoken in Louisiana, Florida, and Mexico, and also the French 
language spoken in Lower Canada ; the Irish, the Italian, 
the Swedish, the Danish, the Norwegian, spoken in small 
settlements, or by individuals scattered through the mass of 
the American population. Besides these, the aboriginal tribes 
have furnished from the first, numerous terms to the current 
language of the times. 

Moreover, the peculiar circumstances in which the inhab- 
itants of the United States are placed, the objects of Nature j 
the productions of the earth or of art, the employments, the 
modes of thought, require a corresponding diversity of lan- 
guage : first, generically, between this and the mother-country ; 
second, specifically, between different parts of this country. 

Mr. Bartlett, in his valuable dictionary of Americanisms, 
mentions several classes of words. 1. Dutch words; as, oly^ 
koke^ crullers. 2. German words. 3. French : as, bayou, 



92 DIALECTS AND PROVINCIALISMS. 

crevasse. 4. Spanish ; as, cavortin^ chaparral. 5. Indian ; 
as, hominy^ powivow. 6. Negro ; as, buckra. 7. Words 
which express the peculiarities of American institutions, &c. ; 
as, caucus^ boatable, buncome^ mileage^ backwoods, cane- 
brake. 8. Vulgarisms; like atop and becase ; and perver- 
sions, like happify and donate. 

To pass over the local peculiarities of smaller districts, 
there are certain generic dialectical differences which charac- 
terize, 1. New England. 2. The Southern States. 3. The 
"Western States. 

Above my BEND=out of my power, W. Absquatulate 
= abscond. To allot upon, N. E. Ee'n amost= almost. 
Any how you can fix iT=at 'any rate. Appreciate =to 
raise the value of, or, to rise in value. Ary= either. Aw- 
ful, in the sense of ugly, and in the sense of very great. 
Back and forth =backward and forward, N. E. Bad box 
= bad predicament. Balance =the remainder, S. To bark 
up the wrong TREE=to mistake one's object or course. Bee, 
a collection of people who unite their labor for the benefit of 
an individual or family, as a quilting bee. Betterments = 
improvements on new lands. Blaze =a mark on a tree for 
guiding a traveler. To blow up=to scold or abuse. Boss 
=master. Bottom land= alluvial soil on the banks of riv- 
ers. Breadstuff= bread-corn, meal, or flour. Calculate 
= expect or believe, N. E. Can't come it= can't do it. Car- 
rying ON = frolicking. To be a caution^ to be a warning. 
To CAVE iN=to give up. Chicken fixings= chicken frica- 
seed. Clever= obliging. CLEVERLY=well, or very well. 
CLip=a blow. To CONDUCTS to conduct one's self, N. E. 
CoNSiDERABLE=very. Curious^ excellent, N. E. Cute== 
sharp, cunning, N. E. Deadening= girdling trees. Demor- 
alize = to corrupt the morals. Dicker = to barter, N. Y. 
Difficulted= perplexed. Diggings= neighborhood, or sec- 
tion of the country, W. Do DON'T=do not, Ga. Done gone 
=ruined, S. Do TELL=indeed! DREADFUL=very. To 
fellowship wiTH=to hold communion with. On the fence 
=to be neutral and ready to join the strongest party. Fix 
= a condition, a dilemma. Fixings= arrangements. To 
fizzle ouT=to prove a failure. To flare up=to get excit- 



AMERICAN DIALECTS. 



93 



ed suddenly. To get the FLOoR=to be in possession of the 
house. To FLUNK ouT=to retire through fear. To fork 
ovER^to pay over. Full cHisEL=full speed, N. E. To 
GO BY^to call, to stop at, S. and W. To go the whole 
FIGURE = to go to the greatest extent. Goings on^ behavior. 
Green:= inexperienced ; 'English verdant. Grit= courage, 
spirit. GuEss= think, to believe, N. E. To hail from= 
to reside in. To get the hang of a THiNG=to get the knack 
of doing it. Help^ servants. Het= heated. To hide = 
to beat. To hold oN=to stop, to wait. HuMBUG=an im- 
position. To LET oN=to mention. Likely= handsome. 
LoAFER=an idle lounger. LoT=a division of land. Lot 
or LOTS=a quantity, a large number. Lynch law= punish- 
ment executed by a mob without legal fdrms. To make 
TRACKS=to leave. Mass meeting= large meeting called for 
some special purpose. Mi ghty= great, very. Muss^^ con- 
fusion. NoN-coMMiTTAL:=that docs not commit himself to 
a particular measure. Notions^ small wares or trifles. 
Plaguy sight= great deal, N. E. Plunders baggage or 
luggage, S. and W. Powerful= great, very. Pretty 
considerable = tolerable. To RECKON=to think, to imag- 
ine. SHANTY=a hut. RocK=a stone, S. and W. Smart 
CHANCE=a good deal, S. and W. SpLURGE=a blustering 
effort, S. and W. Spry= nimble, N. E. To sQUAT^to 
settle on anothers' lands, or on the United States lands with- 
out a proper title. To stave oFF=to delay. To take on 
= to grieve. Tall:= great, fine. Tight= close, penurious. 
Tight MATCH=a close or even match. To TOTE=to carry, 
S. Ugly= ill-tempered, bad, N. E. There's no two ways 
ABOUT iT=the fact is just so. Used to could= could for- 
merly, S. YANK=to twitch powerfully. 

The apprehension has sometimes been expressed, that in 
the progress of time the Americans would so change and cor- 
rupt their mother tongue that they would speak, not the En- 
glish, but an American language ; while among themselves 
as great diversities would exist as formerly existed among 
the tribes of Greece. This apprehension seems to be passing 
off. It is getting to be understood that the existing dialect- 
ical differences are not as great as in the mother- country ; 



94 DIALECTS AND PROVINCIALISMS. 

while the increasing intercourse between the two nations, and 
the increasing interchange of the literary productions of each 
will help to preserve the oneness of the language. If the An- 
glo-Saxon race are destined to spread over North America, 
and thus become a mighty continental nation, the system of 
school education, and the use of the same text-books in the 
institutions of learning, and of the same periodicals and read- 
ing books in families — in short, the mighty power of the 
press, urged on by those who have drunk from the " wells of 
English undeiiled," will help to keep the people of America 
one in Language as one in government. And though it should 
be conceded that the best authors and public speakers in En- 
gland have the advantage of the leading minds in our own 
country in idiomatic raciness and finished elegance, it should 
in justice be claimed that the great mass of the people of the 
United States speak and write their vernacular tongue with 
more correctness than the common people of Great Britain. 



N ANGLO-SAXON, WITH A GRAM- 
MATICAL ANALYSIS. 

§ 53, Fseder ure, thu the eart on h^ofenum, si thin nama 
gehalgod ; to-becume thin rice ; geweordhe thin willa on 
eorthan swa swa on heofenum. Urne ge dseghwamlican hlaf 
syle us to-dseg, and forgyf us ure gyltas swa swa we for-, 
gifadh urum gyltendum, and ne gelsede thu us on costnunge, 
ac alys us of yfie. 

Feeder, ''father," the Unguals d and th being interchanged, 
here in the vocative case. 

Ure, '' our," possessive adjective pronoun. The English 
diphthong ou is substituted for the Anglo-Saxon long vowel u. 

Thu, '' thou," the personal pronoun being inserted before 
the relative pronoun of the second person. Here, again, En- 
glish ou = Anglo-Saxon u. 

The, '' who," indeclinable relative pronoun. 

Eart, '' art," 2d pers. sing. pres. indie, from wesan, ''to be." 

On (whence English on), " in," here construed with the 
dative. 



THE LORD'S PRAYER IN ANGLO-SAXON. 95 

Heofenum^ " the heavens," dative plural from heofen, 
'' heaven." 

Si, " be," Sd pers. sing. pres. subjunct. from wesan, «' to 
be." 

Thin, '< thine," possessive adjective pronoun. 

Nama, ''name," with final a formative of nouns, which is 
dropped in English. 

Gehalgod, '' hallowed," past participle from gehalgian, 
" to hallow." 

To'becume, " let come," 3d pers. sing. pres. subjunct. from 
to-becuman, ''to approach" or " come."— TAm, " thine," as 
before. 

Rice (comp. English ric in bishopric), " kingdom." 

Geweordhe, " let be done," 3d pers. sing. pres. subjunct. 
from geweordhan, " to be done." — TJiin, " thine," as be- 
fore. 

Willa, with final a formative of nouns, which is dropped 
in English. — On, " in" or " on," here construed with the da- 
tive, as before. 

Eorthan, " earth," dative singular from eortJie, " earth." 

Swa, " so," demonstrative adverb of manner, used as a 
demonstrative. — 8wa, " as," demonstrative adverb of man- 
ner, here used as a relative. — On heofenum, "in the heav 
ens," as before. 

Time, " our," possessive adjective pronoun in the accusa- 
tive ca'se singular. 

Ge, " also," conjunction. 

Dceghwamlican, " daily," adjective in the accusative case 
singular. 

Hlaf (whence English loaf), " bread," in the accusative 
case. 

Syle, " give thou," 2d pers. sing, imper. from syllan 
(whence English to sell), " to give." 

Us, " to us," dative of we, " we." 

To-dceg, " to-day," adverb. 

And, " and," conjunction. 

Forgyf, " forgive thou," 2d pers. sing, imper. from /or- 
gifan, "to forgive." — Us, "to us," as before. 

Ure, " our," in accusative plural. 



96 THE HISTORICAL ELEMENTS. 

Gyltas, <' debts," accusative plural, from gylt, '' a debt." 
— 8wa swa, " so as," as before. 

We, <'we." 

Forgifadh, ^' forgive," 1st pers. plur. pres. indie, from for- 
gifan, '' to forgive." 

JJrum, <' our," in dative plural. 

Gyltendum, " debtors," dative plural, from gyltend, " a 
debtor."— J!^t^, " and," as before. 

Ne, '' not," adverb of negation. 

Gelcede, ^< lead," 2d pers. sing, imper. from gelcedan, " to 
lead."— TA^«, '« thou," as before. 

Us, '' us," accusative of we, " we." 

On, '' into," here construed v^ith an accusative. 

Costnunge, '' temptations," accusative plural, from cost- 
nung, ^' a temptation." 

Ac, " but," conjunction. 

Alys, " deliver thou," imper. from alysan, '' to deliver." — 
Us, '' us," as before. 

Of (whence English of), «' from," construed with the da- 
tive. 

YfiSy '« evil," dative sing, from yfel, *' evil." 



PART 11. 

THE PHONOLOGY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 



CHAPTER I. 

ELEMENTARY SOUNDS IN THE SPOKEN LANGUAGE, 



MODE OF PRODUCTION. 

^ 54. The Sounds which constitute Language are formed 
by air issuing from the Lungs, modified in its passage through 
the throat and mouth by the Organs of Speech, at the will 
of the speaker. 

Phonology is the Doctrine or Science of the elementary 
sounds uttered by the human voice in speech. The Phonol- 
ogy of the English Language is the doctrine of the element- 
ary sounds in the Spoken language. 

The tones of the human voice are produced by two Mem- 
branes, called the Vocal Ligaments. They are set in mo- 
tion by a stream of air gushing from the lungs. The Wind- 
pipe is contracted near the mouth by a projecting mass of 
muscles, called the Glottis. The Edges of the glottis are 
membranes, and form the Vocal Ligaments. Ordinarily these 
membranous edges are inclined from each other, and, conse- 
quently, no vibrations take place during the passage of the 
breath ; but, by the aid of certain muscles, we can place them 
parallel to each other, when they immediately Vibrate and 
produce a Tone. With the aid of other muscles we can in- 
crease their tension, and thereby the Sharpness of the tone ; 
and, by driving the air more forcibly from the lungs, we may 
increase its loudness. The Tone thus formed is modified by 
the cavities of the throat, nose, and mouth. These modifi- 
cations form the first Elements of Articulate Language. They 
are produced not by the lungs, or the windpipe, but by the 

a 



98 ELEMENTARY SOUNDS. 

Glottis, the Palate, the Tongue, the Teeth, the Lips, which 
are called the Organs of Speech. As the Tongue is the 
principal organ in changing the cavities which modify the 
tone, it has given its Name to speech, both in the Anglo- 
Saxon and the Latin. 

CLASSIFICATION. 

§ 55. In the Spoken Language, the Elementary Sounds 
are divided into two classes : 1. Vocalic or Vowel Sounds. 
2. Consonantal or Consonant Sounds. 

1. Vocalic Sounds are those which can be formed without 
bringing any parts of the mouth into contact, to interrupt the 
stream of air from the Lungs. 

Thus the Sound oi a ox o can be pronounced with the 
mouth partially open, and with the breath in one uninter- 
rupted stream. The word Vowel is from the Latin word 
Vocalis, Vocal ; it means what can be sounded or form Voice 
by itself. Some ambiguity is connected with the use of the 
word, inasmuch as it not only denotes a Sound, but also the 
Letter which represents the sound. 

2. It has been found that the note of a common organ may 
take the qualities of all the vowel sounds in succession. This 
is effected merely by lengthening the tube which confines the 
vibrations. It would seem, therefore, that the peculiar char- 
acter of the different vowel sounds depends on the length of 
the cavity which modifies the voice. In pronouncing the a 
in father, the cavity seems barely, if at all, extended beyond 
the throat ; in pronouncing the a in all, it reaches to the root 
of the tongue, and to the middle of the palate in pronounc- 
ing the long e in eat ; the sound of the long o in oat requires 
the cavity to be extended to the lips, which must be stretched 
out to form a cavity long enough to pronounce the u in jute. 

§56. Consonantal Sounds are those which can not be 
formed without bringing the parts of the mouth into contact. 

1. Thus the Sound indicated by the letter p or m can not 
be produced without bringing the lips into contact. Though 
the consonantal sounds can be isolated, that is, separated from 
the Vocalic, yet in practice they are joined to vocalic sounds 
and pronounced with them. For this reason this class of 



CLASSIFICATION. 99 

sounds can be properly called Consonants, from the Latin 
word con^ with, sonans, sounding. 

2. An Articulate sound, from articulus^ a Latin word 
for joints is properly one which is preceded or followed by the 
closing of the organs of speech, or bringing some of the parts 
of the mouth in contact. A Consonant is, in the strict sense, 
an Articulation, or an Articulate Sound. But, in use, the 
term is extended to Vowel Sounds. Vowel sounds are pro- 
duced by the lower organs, and Consonantal sounds by the 
upper. Brute animals utter Vowel sounds. Man only can 
utter Consonantal sounds. 

3. In comparing sounds it is advisable to have nothing to 
do with either letters or the names of letters, but to compare 
the sounds themselves. Instead of comparing the syllables 
which contain the consonants, in order to determine the rela- 
tions of the consonants, as pa^ ba^ ta, da, we are often obliged 
to separate the consonant from its vowel, and bring our or- 
gans to utter, or half utter, the imperfect sounds of p\ b\ t\ 
d\ In doing this we isolate the consonant. 

§ 57. Let any of the Voiuels (for instance, the a in fatlier) 
be sounded. The lips, the tongue, and the parts within your 
throat remain in the same position ; and, as long as these re- 
main in the same position, the sound is that of the vowel 
under consideration. Let, however, a change take place in 
the position of the organs of sound ; let, for instance, the lips 
be closed, or the tongue applied to the front part of the mouth : 
in that case the Vowel sound is cut short. It undergoes a 
change. It terminates in a sound that is different, according 
to the state of those organs whereof the position has been 
changed. If on the Vowel in question the lips be closed, 
there arises an imperfect sound of h or p. If, on the other 
hand, the tongue be applied to the front teeth, or to the front 
part of the palate, the sound is one (more or less imperfect) 
of t or d. This fact illustrates the difference between the 
Vowels and the Consonants. It may be verified by pronounc- 
ing the a in fate, ee in feet, 00 in book, o in note, &c. 

It is a further condition in the formation of a Vowel sound 
that the passage of the breath be uninterrupted. In the sound 
of the V in lo (isolated from the Vowel) the sound is contin- 



100 ELEMENTARY SOUNDS. 

uous, as it is with the a in fate. Between, however, the 
Consonant I and the Vowel a there is this difference : with 
a the passage of the breath is uninterrupted ; with Z, the 
tongue is applied to the palate, breaking or arresting the pas- 
sage of the breath. 

§ 58. If you take the sounds of j>, /, #, k, s, &c., and iso- 
late them from their vowels, and pronounce them, the sound 
is that of a whisper. If you treat by v^ d, g*, z, &c., in a 
similar way, the sound is no whisper, but one at the natural 
tone of the voice. The first class are called Surds, the sec- 
ond class Sonants. Instead of these, the terms Sharp and 
Flat have been used, or Aspirate and Vocal. 

If the vocal ligaments be so inclined to each other as not 
to vibrate, the emission of breath from the lungs produces 
merely a whisper. This whisper may be modified in like 
manner as the voice, by similar arrangements of the organs. 
Every vocal sound has its correspondent whisper sound or 
aspirate. 

§ 59. A part of the consonant sounds are Continuous, and 
a part are Explosive. If you isolate the sounds of p, b, t, d, 
k, and g-, you have no power to prolong the sounds or of rest- 
ing on them. They escape with the breath at once. It is 
not so with /, v, sh, zliy s, I, m, n, r. Here the breath is 
transmitted by degrees, and the sound can be prolonged. The 
first class are explosive, the second continuous. 

DR. rush's classification. 

§ 60. I. Tonic Sounds. J.-11, a-xt, a-n, a-le, ou-Tj e-sle, 
o-ld, ee-1, oo-ze, e-rr, e-nd, i-n. These twelve Tonic sounds 
have a vocality, as distinguished from a whisper or aspiration, 
and admit of indefinite prolongation. II. Subtonic Sounds. 
J5-0W, d-ELYG, g-'ive, si-^g-, Z-ove, m-ay, n-ot, r-oe, have unmixed 
vocality ; ?;-ile, 2r-one, ?/-e, w-o, th-en, a-^r-ure, have aspira- 
tion. Some of the Subtonic vocalities are nasal ; as, m, n, 
ng'y by dy g: III. Atonic Sounds. U-^, ou-^, ar-A:, i-/, ye-s, 
h-Qy wh-esity th-iuy ipn-sh. These nine have no vocality, but 
only a whisper or aspiration. In this classification of the 
Elementary Articulate sounds we have twelve tonic, fourteen 
subtonic, and nine atonic sounds ; in all, thirty-five. 



EXPLANATION OF ELEMENTARY SOUNDS. IQ I 

Seven of the tonic elements may be called Diphthongs : 
a-ll, a-rt, a-n, a-le, isle, o-ld, ou-i. The remaining five have 
one unaltered sound : ee-1, oo-zey e-rr, e-nd, ^-n. 

§61. TABLE OP THE ELEMENTARY SOUNDS IN THE 
ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 

VOWEL SOUNDS. 

1. That of tt in father. 7. That of e in fit. 



2. 




a " fat. 


3. 




a " fate. 


4. 




a " fall. 


5. 




e " mete. 


6. 




e " met. 



8. 


<< 


" note. 


9. 


<< 


" not. 


10. 


<c 


u " hull. 


11. 


XI 


00 " fool. 


12. 


(i 


u " but. 



VOWEL OR CONSONANT SOUNDS. 

13. That of w in wet. 14. That of y in yef. 

CONSONANT SOUNDS. 

15. That of h in hot, an aspirate or simple breathing. 

16. " ng " king, a nasal consonant sound. 

17. " m " man, a liquid nasal consonant sound. 

18. " n " not, " " " « 

19. " i " Ze^, a liquid consonant sound. 

20. " r " rMw, " " " 

COGNATE CONSONANT SOUNDS. 

21. That of p in pate, i surd. 29. That of k in kind, i surd. 



22- " i " bag, 5 sonant. 30. *' g " ^mw, J sonant. 

23. « / "/an, ) surd. 31. " s ''sin, i surd. 

24. " V " van, J sonant. 32. *' z " zeal, S sonant. 

25. « th " ^^iiw, % surd. 33. " sh " shine, i surd. 

26. " th " ^Aiwe, 5 sonant, 34. " z " czure, ) sonant. 

27. «« f " tin, ) surd. 



^fw, 5 



sonant. 



COMPOUND VOWEL SOUNDS. 

1, That of i in fine. 3. That of ou in house. 

2. " M " rude. 4. " oi " voice. 

COMPOUND CONSONANT SOUNDS. 

1. That of ch in chest, surd. 2. That of; in jest, sonant. 

EXPLANATION OF THE TABLE OF ELEMENTARY 
SOUNDS. 

§ 62. 1. The Tenth, the sound of u in b^^ll, is closely allied 
to the Eleventh, the sound of oo in fool. They are both va- 
rieties of the same sound, pronounced rapidly in the one case 
and slowly in the other. The two sounds bear the same re- 



102 ELEMENTARY SOUNDS. 

iation to each other as the sound of a in fate to the sound of 
a in fat, and of ee in feet to i in fzt. 

2. The Thirteenth, the sound of w in wet, is allied to the' 
sound of 00 in cool. Some writers consider it as identical, 
and assert that the words ivill, oo4ll are sounded alike. It 
is, however, convenient to consider the lo, as in will, as a sep- 
arate and independent sound. 

3. The Fourteenth, the sound of y in yet, is allied to the 
sound of ee in ieet. Some writers consider it as identical, 
and assert that the words yet and ee-et are sounded alike. It 
is, however, convenient to consider the y, as in yet, as a sep- 
arate, independent sound. 

4. The Fifteenth, the sound of h in hot, is by some gram- 
marians classed with the Vowel sounds, and by others with 
the Consonant sounds. It is simply a breathing. 

5. The Sixteenth, the sound of ng in king, is a simple 
elementary sound, expressed, not by a single elementary sign 
or letter, but by two letters, or a combination. The sound 
of ng in king is allied to the sounds of n and g. It differs, 
however, from the sounds of both of these letters, either sin- 
gle or taken together. The Sixteenth, Seventeenth, and 
Eighteenth are called Nasals, from the organ concerned in 
their production. 

6. The Twenty-fifth, the sound of th in thin, is a simple 
single elementary sound, and as such should be expressed by 
a simple single elementary letter. Instead of this, it is ex- 
pressed by two letters, or by a combination, so that, although 
a simple sound to the ear, it has the appearance of being a 
compound one to the eye. 

7. The Twenty-sixth, the sound of th in thine, like the 
sound last mentioned, is a simple sound, expressed not by a 
simple single elementary sign or letter, but by two letters ; 
but, though different from the sound last mentioned, it is ex- 
pressed in the spelling in precisely the same way. The th 
in thin is allied to the sound of t, as in tin. The th in thine 
is allied to the sound of d, as in dine. 

8. The Thirty-third, the sound of sh, as in shine, is in the 
same predicament as sounds 25, 26. It is a single simple 
elementary sound, expressed not by a single simple element- 



COMPOUND SOUNDS. 



103 



ary sign or letter, but by two letters in combination. The 
real sound of A, preceded by 5, is very different from that of 
sh in shine ; and the real sound of sh in shine is very differ- 
ent from that of h preceded by s. 

9. The Thirty-fourth, the sound of z in azure, though 
without a corresponding sign or letter, is single, simple, and 
elementary. The sound of z in azure and the s in pleasure 
are identical. This sound is related to sh in shine, as th in 
there is related to th in thin, 

10. From the Twenty-first to the Thirty-fourth inclusive, 
the Consonant Sounds allied in pronunciation, or Cognate, are 
arranged in pairs. In each pair the sound of the even num- 
ber has Vocality, being produced by the voice, and the sound 
of the odd number has only an Aspiration, or a whisper, be- 
ing produced by the breath. Thus, if the Sound of p in the 
first pair be isolated from its vowel, it will be only that of a 
"Whisper ; but if the allied sound of b be uttered, it will be 
not a Whisper, but the Natural Tone of the voice. As al- 
ready mentioned, the sounds in the series p are indicated by 
the terms surd, aspirate, or sharp, and the sounds in the se- 
ries b are indicated by the terms sonant, vocal, or flat. 

§ 63. Of Elementary Sounds in the English Language, the 
Vowel Sounds, the Nasal Sounds, the Liquid Sounds, are Vocal 
and Continuous ; one Half of the remaining sounds are Vocal, 
and the other Half, and the sound of the letter h, are Aspirate ; 
and of each half a part are Continuous and a part are Explosive. 



COMPOUND SOUNDS. 



§ 64. Compound Sounds, formed by means of Two Vowel 
sounds, are called Diphthongs ; as, that of ou in hoz^se, oi in 
YoiGe, u in m^^se, i in pme. 

1. The nature of the compound ou is disguised by the 
spelling. It consists of the sounds of a in father and of 
00 or of the w in will, rapidly proxiounced. 2. The sound 
of the compound oi is the sound of o modified, plus the sound 
of y modified. 3. The sound of u in muse, and of ew in 
new, is that of i in pit and of oo or of w in ivill. 4. The 
sound of i in pine, like that of u in muse, is disguised by the 
spelling. As it is represented by means of the letter i, the 



104 ELEMENTARY SOUNDS. 

erroneous notion prevails of its being a simple single element- 
ary sound ; and also of its being the sound of the i in pit, 
lengthened in the pronunciation. The real elements of the 
sound in question are generally considered to be the a in fat 
and the y in yet, rapidly pronounced. The word Diphthong 
is from the Greek A^^, double, and (pdoyyog, a voice. It is 
immediately related to the spoken language, not the written. 
Some of the Vowel sounds do not readily combine, as those 
of e and a in heat. Only one of the elements is sounded. 
When two Vowel letters are thus brought together in a writ- 
ten word, and the sounds which they represent will not com- 
bine, they are called a Digraph. 

§65. Compound Sounds formed by the union of Three 
Vowel sounds are called Triphthongs ; as in buoy. "When 
three Vowel letters are brought together in a syllable, and the 
sounds which they represent will not combine, they may be 
called a Trigraph. 

Compound Consonant sounds are represented by ch in chest, 
and by j in jest. Ch is = ^ 4- sh ;j \'s, = d-\- zh. These are 
compound sibilants, ch being aspirate, or sharp, or surd, and 
j being vocal, or flat, or sonant. 

The Analysis of the Sounds in the English language pre- 
sented in the preceding statements are sufficiently exact for 
the purpose in hand. Those who wish to pursue it further 
can consult Dr. Rush's admirable work, " The Philosophy of 
the Human Voice." 

VOWEL SOUNDS NOT IN THE LANGUAGE. 

§ QQ. 1. E ferme of the French. This sound is allied to, 
but different from, the a in fate and the ee in feet. It is in- 
termediate to the two. The meaning oi ferme is close. Its 
opposite, a in fate, is open. 

2. U of the French, iX of the Germans, y of the Danes. 
This sound is intermediate to ee in feet and the oo in book ; 
long, as in the French word flute, rue ; short, as in fut. The 
nasal un in French represents a sound not found in EngHsh. 

3. O chiuso of the Italians. This sound is intermediate 
to the o in note and the oo in book. The meaning of chiuso 
is close, in opposition to the open sound of o, as in note. 



RELATIONSHIP OF CONSONANTAL SOUNDS. 105 

4. The Sanscrit has a vowel r. The short r is pronounced 
like the consonant r, with a scarcely distinguishable z, and 
in European texts is usually rl ; the long r is scarcely to be 
distinguished from the union of r with a long ^. 

The Sanscrit has another vowel, which is the union of an 
I with r, or a lengthened r. The foregoing are specimens. 

CONSONANT SOUNDS NOT IN THE LANGUAGE. 

Cli in German, gli in Irish, // in Welsh, represent sounds 
not found in the English language. These are specimens. 

The same elementary sound, as exhibited by two individuals 
belonging to different nations, may differ from itself in qual- 
ity, just as the same musical note differs from itself when 
produced by a flute and a violin. Both the identity and the 
diversity are perceived at once. This diversity, if it does not 
proceed from a difference of physiological structure, such as 
obtains between the different races of men, is to be accounted 
for by the early training of the organs, which in time become 
rigid, and lose the imitative power for fixed habits. 

RELATIONSHIP OF CERTAIN CONSONANTAL SOUNDS. 

§ 67. 1. Let the sign p represent the single simple sound 
of th in thin. And, 2. Let the sign ^ represent the single 
simple sound of th in thine. And, 3. Let the sign g (Greek 
llyfia) represent the simple single sound of sh in shine. And, 
4. Let the sign ^ (Greek Zrira^ represent the simple single 
sound of z in azure (French j). And, 5. Let the sign fc 
(Greek Kdnna) and the sign y (Greek Vdiiiia) represent two 
peculiar sounds in the Laplandic, and possibly in some other 
languages, different from any in English, German, French. 
Then we ha,ve the following relationship : 



As 


P 


is to 


i, 


so is 


/ 


to 


d. 


As 


t 


is to 


d, 


so is 


k 


to 


g- 


As 


k 


is to 


gy 


so is 


s 


to 


z. 


As 


s 


is to 


^t 


so is 


f 


to 


V. 


As 


f 


is to 


V, 


so is 


P 


to 


«. 


As 


f 


is to 


«, 


so is 


K 


to 


7- 


As 


K 


is to 


r> 


so is 


a 


to 


c. 



106 CERTAIN COMBINATIONS. 



CHAPTER II. 

CERTAIN COMBINATIONS. 



UNPRONOUNCEABLE COMBINATIONS. 

§ 68. Two Consonant Sounds, the one marked Sonant in 
the table, and the other Surd, can not be pronounced in the 
same syllable. See Table of Elementary Sounds, § 61. 

1. This may be understood by practicing a few combina- 
tions, according to the following table : 



Surd 


or Sharp. 


P . 


./ 


t . 


. th^ 


k 




s . 


. sh 



Sonant or Flat. 


b . . 


V 


d . . 


th^ 


^' 




z . 


, z^ 



Now, taking whatever letter we may from one side of the 
line, and joining it in the same syllable with any letter what- 
ever from the other side of the line, we find the combination 
unpronounceable. 



aht^ 


avt^ 


abth^ 


avth, 


agt, 


agPi 


(^Sf^ 


ags, 


apd, 


afb, 


apvy 


afd, 


atb, 


akd, 


akzj 


akb, 


asd, 


ashd, 


asg, 


ashg, &c 



Combinations like these can be written, and they can be 
spelled ; indeed, as written combinations they occur very fre- 
quently ; e. g., stags, lads, &c. ; but they can not be pro- 
nounced, each sound remaining unchanged. 

In order to become pronounced, a change must occur ; one 
of the sounds changes its character, and so accommodates it- 
self to the other. This change takes place in one of two 
ways : either the first of the two sounds takes the aspiration 
or the vocality of the second, or else the second takes the as- 
piration or the vocality of the first. For instance, abt be- 

1 As in tliin. 2 As in tkine. ^ As in gun, * As in azure. 



RELATIONSHIP OF CONSONANTAL SOUNDS. IQT 



comes pronounceable either by h becoming p^ or by t passing 
into d ; in other words, it changes either to apt or to abd. 
So on with the list : 

avt becomes either aft or avd. 



abth 




' apth << abdh. 


agt 




' akt <•' agd. 


ags 




' aks ^' agz. 


apd 




^ apt <' abd. 


asd 




' ast '^ azd. 


ashd 




' asht " azhd. 


asg 




' ask " azg. 


ange is 


necessary 


and universal. It holds good 



2. Thii 

not for the English alone, but for all languages. The only 
difference is that different languages change different letters ; 
that is, one accommodates the first letter to the second, and 
so turns agt into akt ; the other accommodates the second 
letter to the first, changing agt into agd. 

3. There is no fact that requires to be more familiarly 
known than this. There are at least three formations in the 
English language where its influence is most important. 
These are, (a) the Possessive forms in -s ; (b) the plurals in 
-s ; (c) the Preterites in -d and -t. 

4. Neither are there many facts in language more disguised 
than this is in English. The s in the word stags is sharp ; 
the g in the word stags is flat. Notwithstanding this, the 
combination ags exists. It exists, however, in the spelling 
only. In speaking, the s is sounded as z, and the word stags 
is pronounced stagz. Again, in words like tossed, pluckedy 
looked, the e is omitted in pronunciation. Hence the words 
become toss''d, pluck'' d, looked; that is, the flat d comes in 
contact with the sharp k and s. Now the combination exists 
in the spelling only, since the preterite of pluck, look, and 
toss are, in speech, pronounced pluckt, lookt, tosst. 

§ 69. The reason for the difference between the spelling 
and the pronunciation is as follows : For the Possessive case 
Singular, for the Nominative plural, and for the Preterite tense 
of verbs, the forms in Anglo-Saxon were fuller than they are 
in the present English. The possessive singular ended not 
in 'S only, but in -es ; and the nominative plural in -as. Sim- 



108 CERTAIN COMBINATIONS. 

ilarly, the preterite of the verbs ended either in -od or -ed^ not 
in 'd only ; e. g., ivordes = of a word {word's), flodes = of a 
flood {floods), landes=oi a land {land's), thinges = oi a 
thing (or thing^s), endas= ends, and so on throughout the 
language. In this case the vowel separated the two conso- 
nants, and kept them from coming together. As long as this 
vowel kept its place, the consonants remained unchanged, 
their different degrees of sharpness and flatness being a mat- 
ter of indifference. When the vowel, however, was dropped, 
the consonants came in contact. This reduced a change on 
one side or the other to a matter of necessity. Liquid and 
vowel sounds, though vocal or flat, will combine with aspi- 
rated or sharp consonant sounds. If this were not the case, 
the combinations ap, at, alp, alt would be unpronounceable. 
The law exhibited above may be called the Law of Accom- 
modation. Combinations like bt, kd, &o., may be called In- 
compatible Combinations. 

UNSTABLE COMBINATIONS. 

§ 70. Certain sounds in combination with others have a 
tendency to undergo changes. The -eio in neiv is a sample 
of what may be called an Unsteady or Unstable Combination. 
There is a natural tendency to change it either into oo (noo) 
or yoo (nyoo), perhaps also into yew (nyew). If the letter y 
be preceded by t, d, s, as tya, tyo ; dya, dyo ; sya, syo, there 
arises an unstable combination : sya, syo we pronounce as 
sha, sho ; tya, tyo we pronounce as aha and ja (i. e., tsh and 
dsh). This we may verify from our pronunciation of words 
like sure, picture, verdure. The u in these words is not 
sounded as oo, but as yoo. Hence we often have slioor, pict- 
shoor, verdzhoor. The effect of y, taken with the instability 
of the combination ew, accounts for the tendency to pronounce 
dew as if written jew. 

THE EVOLUTION OF NEW SOUNDS. 

§ 71. To an English ear the sound of the German ch falls 
strange. To an English organ it is at first difficult to pro- 
nounce. The same is the case with the German Vowels 6 
and w, and with the French sounds w, eu, &c. To a Ger- 



DOUBLE CONSONANTS RARE. ^09 

man, however, and a Frenchman, the sound of the English 
th (either in tJiin or thine) is equally a matter of difficulty. 
The reason of this lies in the fact of the respective sounds 
being absent in the German, French, or English languages, 
since sounds are easy or hard to pronounce just in proportion 
as we have been familiarized with them. See § 66. 

There is no instance of a new sound being introduced at 
once into a language. Where they originate at all, they are 
evolved, not imported. Let there be a language where there 
is no such sound as that of z, but where there is the sound 
of s. The sound of z may be evolved under (among others) 
the following conditions : 1. Let there be a number of words 
ending in the flat consonants ; as, slab^ stag^ stud^ &c. 2. 
Let a certain form (the Plural number or the Genitive case) 
be formed by the addition of is m* es ;. as, slabis, stages^ 
studes, &c. 3. Let the tendency that words have to con- 
tract eject the intermediate Vowel, e or i, so that the s of the 
Inflection (a Sharp Consonant) and the d, b, g-, &c., of the 
original word (Flat Consonants) be brought into juxtaposition, 
slabs^ studs, stags. There is then an incompatible termina- 
tion, and one of two changes must take place ; either b, d, 
or g must become p, t, or k (slaps, staks, stutsY or s must 
become z (stagz, studz, slabz). In this latter case z is 
evolved. Again : 

Let there be a language wherein there are no such sounds 
as sh, ch (tsh), or 7 (dzh), but where there are the sounds of 
s, t, d, and ^. Let a change aflect the unstable Combina- 
tions spy ty, dy. From this will arise the evolved sounds of 
sh, chyj. See § 74 and 75. 

DOUBLE CONSONANTS RARE. 

§ 72. It can not be too clearly understood that in words 
like pitted, stabbing, massy, &c., there is no real reduplica 
tion of the sounds of t, b, and s respectively. Between the 
words pitted (as with the small-pox) and pitied (as being an 
object of pity) there is a difference in spelling only. In speech 
the words are identical. The reduplication of the Conso- 
nant in English, and the generality of languages, is a con- 
ventional mode of expressing on paper the shortness (depend- 



110 CERTAIN COMBINATIONS. 

ence) of the Vowel that precedes. Real reduplications of 
Consonants, i. e., reduplications of their sound, are, in all lan- 
guages, extremely rare. In compound and derived words, 
where the original root ends, and the superadded affix begins 
with the same letter, there is a reduplication of the sound, 
but not otherwise. In the word soulless the / is doubled to 
the ear as well as to the eye ; and it is a false pronunciation 
to call it souless (soless). In the Deformed Transformed it 
is made to rhyme with no less, improperly. 

" Clay not dead, but soulless, 
Though no mortal man would choose thee, 

An immortal no less 
Deigns not to refuse thee." 

In the following words, all of which are Compounds, we 
have true specimens of the Doubled Consonant : n is doubled 
in unnatural, innate, oneness ; I in soulless, civil-list, pale- 
ly ; k in book-case ; t in sea-port-town. It must not be con- 
cealed that, in the mouths even of correct speakers, one of the 
doubled sounds is often dropped, 

TRUE ASPIRATES RARE. 

§ 73. The criticism applied to words like pitted, &c., ap- 
plies also to words like Philip, thin, thine, &c. There is 
therein no sound of h. Ph and th are conventional modes of 
spelling simple single sounds, which might better be expressed 
by simple single signs. In our own language, the true As- 
pirates, like the true reduplications, are found only in com- 
pound words, and there they often are slurred in the pronun- 
ciation. 

We find p and h in the words hap-hazard, tipholder. 
'^ ^' Z> ^' 7j '< " '< abhorrent, cub-hunting. 
" ^^ m '« h " " " Amherst. 
" " n '^ h '^ " " unhinge, inherent. 

Now, in certain languages, the true Aspirate, i. e., sounds 
like the th in nut-hook, the ph in hap-liazard, &c., are as fre- 
quent as the sounds of p, h, s, &o. In the spelling of these 
sounds by means of the English, we are hampered by the 
circumstance of the th and ph being already used in a dif- 
ferent sense. - 



GENESIS OF ENGLISH VOWEL SOUNDS. m 



CHAPTER III. 

GENESIS OF ENGLISH VOWEL SOUNDS. 

§ 74. Besides the inquiry into the sounds which exist or 
are developed in the English language, and the inquiry how 
these sounds are formed by the organs of the human voice, 
there is another inquiry into the historical origin or genesis 
of particular English sounds — a subject somewhat new to 
the English reader. 

If we examine, for example, the vowels of our languagCj 
we shall find that a, e, i, and u, in an open accented sylla- 
ble, had originally, in a previous state, a quite different sound, 
so much so as to make the present names and force given to 
these vowels quite incorrect. This we shall illustrate by a 
full discussion concerning thb vowel a, leaving it to the read- 
er to apply analogous reasoning to the other vowels named. 

A recent writer makes the following observations : '' The 
power of a in the English language is at least four-fold, as in 
the words father, call, tame, and hat. The first of these 
sounds is that which generally prevails in other languages. 
The modified pronunciation of the vowel in tame is partly 
due to the vowel e at the end of the word ; in call, and sim- 
ilar forms, the peculiarity arises from the letter I ; so that the 
only true sounds of the vowel are perhaps the long sound in 
father and the short one in hat.^^ — The Penny CyclopcBdia, 
1833, art. a. 

Grammarians have experienced not a little difficulty in 
determining the fundamental and leading sound of the vowel 
a in English, especially as its uses are thought to be so va- 
rious, and so different from its uses in other languages. 

The older grammarians, as Ben Jonson and James Green- 
wood, appear to give the first place to the short sound of a 
in mixed syllables ; as, hat, path, plant ; although even in 
these examples there exist slight diversities of sound. In se- 
lecting the short sound they are right. But modern writers 
generally content themselves with enumerating the different 



112 GENESIS OF ENGLISH VOWEL SOUNDS. 

sounds, assigning the first place to that which they suppose 
implied in the name of the vowel, or the long sound of a in 
paper. These persons, I apprehend, are in error ; for, in the 
first place, the proper sound of a vowel is its short sound ; 
and, secondly, how the other sounds of a can be derived from 
the sound ay or eh, these writers have not attempted to ex- 
plain. R. Nares, in his English Orthoepy, calls the sound 
of a in father.) path, plant, irregular, as if these words had 
once been differently pronounced. The writer in the Penny 
CyclopsBdia seems to have some presentiment of the truth. 

The present state of comparative philology enables us, it 
is believed, to give a more philosophic and exact view of the 
subject than has usually been given. If the doctrine on this 
subject can be simplified and conformed to the historic fact, 
it is certainly important for the interest of science that it 
should be done. 

We shall endeavor, then, to establish the following proposi- 
tion : that the fundamental and leading sound of a in En- 
glish is ah. By this we do not mean to deny that a, under 
the tone in an open syllable; as in paper, is properly and 
correctly pronounced ay, nor that a, when slurred over, as in 
collar, is properly and correctly pronounced like an obscure u. 
But we do contend that the original, proper, and only true 
sound of a, when unaffected by any extraneous influence, is 
ah. My arguments are the following : 

1. This is the sound of the vowel in Hebrew, Greek, Lat- 
in, and in all the languages on the Continent of Europe. 
The ancestors of the English must have brought it with 
them from the Continent. How this vowel should lose at 
once its original type of sound, and acquire that of ay or aio, 
has not been explained. 

2. This sound, or something extremely similar, is the act- 
ual sound in all close syllables ; as, crab, hat, path, plant, 
&c. These constitute the majority of cases of its use. 

3. This is the actual sound in unaccented open syllables; 
as, America, Malaga. These constitute a large proportion 
of the cases of the use of a in an open syllable. 

4. This sound is implied or involved in the sound of a in 
an open accented syllable, as paper, which is properly a 



GENESIS OF ENGLISH VOWEL SOUNDS. n^ 

strengthening of the sound ah. Now there exist different 
modes of strengthening a vowel sound ; viz., (1.) By increas- 
ing the stress or force of the breath in the same time, which 
is our conception of accent ; (2.) By prolonging the same 
sound, which is our conception of long- quantity ; and, (3.) 
By adding ih instead of ah, by "what is called the precession 
of vowels. — See Crosby's Greek Grammar, p. 17. This last 
mode applies in the case before us, and brings the accented 
open a under our next category. 

5. This sound is implied or involved in the diphthong ai 
or ay, in main, may, the sound of which is made up by the 
commingling of the sounds ah and ih. Compare the French 
palais and modern Greek mousais, where this diphthong has 
the same sound. Indeed, that the Continental e (pronounced 
ay) is formed by the union or commixtion of the sounds ah 
and ih, is now the opinion of the most celebrated philologists 
on the Continent of Europe. — See Christ. Spect. for 1838, 
p. 591. Why i should be added to a letter having already 
the sound of the diphthong it is difficult to explain. 

6. This sound is implied or involved in words ending in e 
mute ; as, mane, tame. Words written with e mute once 
had an additional syllable, and often exhibit it in Old English 
poetry. The mute e, the last vestige of such syllable, was 
retained in the writing to prevent the final consonant from 
combining with the preceding vowel in a mixed syllable, and 
thus making the vowel short. This final e in its evanescent 
state becomes equivalent in sound to ih, the most slender of 
all the vowels, and thus modifies the sound of the preceding 
ah, as under the last head. This historical explanation of 
the mute e in English must commend itself to every mind. 

7. This sound, or something very similar, is involved in 
the sound of the diphthong ua or wa, in quart, water, wasp, 
where the sound of the vowel a is evidently modified by the 
preceding vowel u or w. The sound ay, on the contrary, lies 
too remote from aw ; compare waiter. 

8. This sound, or something very similar, is involved in the 
sound of the digraph al, in always, also, &c., where the sound 
of the vowel a is evidently modified by the following semi-vow^- 
el I. The sound ay, on the contrary, lies too remote from aw, 

H 



114 GENESIS OF ENGLISH CONSONANT SOUNDS. 

9. The sound of ah prolonged is found in the digraph ar, 
in art^ hart, &c., which presents no difficulty. 

10. The name of the vowel a (which is written a, and 
pronounced ay, because the vowel stands in an open syllable, 
and, forming a monosyllable, has the tone) has no concern 
with the sound of the vowel. Nobody confounds the name 
of w ox y with their sound or phonetic import. 

If these views are correct, we have succeeded in bringing 
the English a into harmony with the Continental a, and in 
freeing our language from the imputation of a great anomaly 
in this respect. It is true, however, that the diphthongs and 
digraphs, perfect and imperfect, will need to be treated with 
more care by the next generation of grammarians. 

GENESIS OF ENGLISH CONSONANT SOUNDS. 

§ 75. If we examine the consonant sounds of the English 
language, we shall find in many cases that they originated 
from sounds quite different. Even the same alphabetical 
sound may often be traced to different sources. This may 
be exemplified by the letter 5, which in dispossesses, an En- 
glish word of Latin origin, but having a Teutonic termina- 
tion, occurs six times. 

1. The first s in the word dispossesses, or the s in the 
Latin prefix dis, is an original s. This will appear if we 
compare the Latin prefix dis with the Gothic tvis, ''apart;" 
both connected with the Sanscrit dwis, Greek dis, Old En- 
glish tvies, English twice, all having the same meaning as 
the English twice. 

2. The second s, or the s in the Latin prefix pos, is de- 
rived or formed from an original t, which here assimilates it- 
self to the following s. This will appear if we compare the 
Latin prefix pot (in pono for pot-sino, porrigo for pot-rigo, 
possideo for pot-sideo) with the Sanscrit prati, Pali pati, 
Greek proti (whence pros), Doric poti, all signifying 
<' unto." 

3. The third s, or the first s in sess, is original and radical. 
This will appear if we compare the Latin ^/sed in sedeo with 
the Sanscrit Vsad, Greek Vhed, Gothic Vsit in sitan, En- 
glish sit, all having the same import. 



EUPHONY. 



115 



4. The fourth s, or the second s in sess, stands for an orig- 
inal and radical d (see the forms of the root under No. 3, 
above), v/hich, before a t, has been changed into s, by an eu- 
phonic law of the Latin language ; compare claudo, claus- 
trum ; caedo^ caestus ; comedo^ comestus ; sedeo, sestum, 
whence sessum. 

5. The fifth s, or the last s in sess, is an original t (com- 
pare the Latin turn, the termination of the supine or ancient 
infinitive, with the Sanscrit turn, the termination of the in- 
finitive in that language), which has here, by an euphonic law 
of the Latin language, assimilated itself to the preceding s ; 
compare fodio, fostum, fossum ; cedo, cestum, cessum ; se- 
deo, sestum, sessum. 

6. The sixth s, or the s in the Teutonic termination es, 
the sign of the third person singular in the present indicative, 
was originally t (compare the Sanscrit damnati, Doric dam- 
nati, Latin domat, all signifying <•' he subdues"), but subse- 
quently th (compare the Gothic farith, Anglo-Saxon fcerth, 
old English fareth, all signifying " he goes"), in accordance 
with the famous dialectic law of Grimm, from which last our 
s is immediately derived. 

This s for th seems to have first exhibited itself in some 
specimens of what Hickes calls Dano- Saxon. — See Hickes, 
Gramm. Anglo-Sax., p. 96 ; James Greenwood, Engl. Gram., 
p. 133. 



CHAPTER IV. 

EUPHONY. 

§ 76. Euphony, as opposed to cacophony, is that quality 
of sound by which it strikes the ear agreeably. As the ear, 
the organ by which we apprehend language, is in this respect 
the vestibule of the soul, it must be important whether a 
sound excites the ear, and of course the soul, pleasantly or 
unpleasantly. 

Although euphony is a quality of sound, and seems to re- 



IIQ EUPHONY. 

spect the ear only, yet, if we consider the contiguity of the 
organs of speech to the ear, and the natural laws of the asso- 
ciation of ideas, we shall easily be convinced that it depends 
for the most part on ease of utterance. The sound produced 
in the mouth is in close contact with the ear, which is thus 
constituted its rightful judge. That which passes through 
the lips easily, strikes pleasantly on the ear ; that which oc- 
casions pain and difficulty in the utterance, makes, on the 
contrary, a painful impression on that organ. 

The facility of utterance depends on a just intermixture 
of vocalic and liquid sounds on the one hand, and of mute 
consonants on the other. This undoubtedly is the funda- 
mental principle of euphony. The two faults opposed to this 
are a superabundance of vowels or liquids, producing too 
great softness, and a superabundance of consonants, produc- 
ing too great harshness. 

Although the general principles of euphony are obvious, 
yet, in judging of particular cases, much is left to taste, ca- 
price, and fashion. Habit tends to make an unpleasant sound 
agreeable, and fashion often predominates to reject sounds in 
themselves pleasant. Thus different nations have formed for 
themselves different laws of euphony. 

The changes produced in words by euphony are called fig- 
ures, i. e., figures or forms of words different from the ordi- 
nary. These euphonic changes are entirely distinct from 
those which arise in the formation and inflection of words. 

These figures of euphony have not received in our common 
grammars the attention they deserve. They have been com- 
pressed into a narrow space, and regarded as arbitrary pro- 
cesses. Their connection with the physiology of sound, and 
their importance in the formation of language, have not been 
duly estimated. They are now beginning to form the most 
interesting chapter in comparative philology, and to have their 
bounds and Hmits accurately marked out. 

These figures are either necessary, occasioned by the gen- 
eral laws of euphony, or accidental, occasioned by the sense 
of euphony in a particular people. Both kinds, again, are 
either external, i. e., such as are perceived from a compari- 
son with a kindred dialect or with an origin^ language ; or 



EUPHONIC FIGURES. n^ 

internal J i. e., such as appear in the structure itself of a par- 
ticular language. 

§ 77. Let there be two syllables, of which the one ends in 
m and the other begins with r, as we have in the syllables 
num and rus, of the Latin word numerus. 

Let an ejection of the intervening letter bring these two 
syllables into immediate contact, num-rus. The m and the 
r form an unstable combination. To remedy this there is a 
tendency (not an absolute necessity) to insert an intervening 
sound. 

In English, the form which the Latin word numerus takes 
is number ; in Spanish, nombre. The b makes no part of 
the original word, but has been inserted for the sake of Eu- 
phony, or, to speak more properly, by a Euphonic process. 
The word Euphony is derived from ev^ well, and (^u}vr], a 
voice. In the word number, nombre, the letter inserted was 
b ; and for b being the particular letter employed, there is a 
reason derived from the system of Articulate sounds. 

The affinity of m for the series b, and of n for the series t, 
give occasion for further Euphonic changes : mt, md, mp, m^, 
are unstable. The syllables emt, emd, are liable to one of 
two modifications : either^ or b will be inserted, and so make 
them empt, as in tempt, embd, as in Embden; or else the m 
will become n, forming the syllables ent, end, enp, en^. 

EUPHONIC FIGURES. 

- § 78. I. Aphjeresis, Greek ano, from, and alpeG), to take, 
is the taking of a letter or a syllable from the beginning of 
a word ; as, Against, ^neath, for against, beneath. 

II. Prosthesis, Greek rcpog, to, and ridr]iii, to place, is the 
addition of a letter or syllable to the beginning of a word ; 
dj&, adown, yclad, ioY down, clad. 

III. Apocope, Greek ar.o, from, and aoixrc^, to cut, is the 
taking of a letter or letters from the end of a word ; as, tW 
evening, four o' clock, for the and of. 

IV. Syncope, Greek gvv, with, and Konrci), to cut, is the 
taking away of one or more letters from the middle of a 
word ; as, e^en, se^ennight, for even, sevennight. 

V. Epenthesis, Greek e-KevdeGig, is the insertion of a letter 



118 EUPHONY. 

or syllable in the middle of a word ; as, honour^ could^ for 
honor J coud. 

VI. Paragoge, Greek napaycjyrj, a drawing out, is the an- 
nexing of a letter or syllable to the end of a word ; as, awakenj 
withouten, for awake, without. 

VII. Diuresis, Greek dialpsaig, division^ is the dissolving 
of a diphthong ; it is the mark •• over two vowels, which 
might otherwise be taken for one syllable; as, zoology, aerial. 

VIII. SvNiERESis, Greek avvaipeoig, contraction, is the con. 
tracting of two syllables into one ; as, ae and ie, in Israel 
and alienate. 

IX. Tmesis, from Greek teiivu, to cut, is the dividing of 
a compound word ; as, to us loard, which side soever, for to- 
loard us, whichsoever side. 

THE permutation AND TRANSITION OF LETTERS. 

§ 79. In the words Give and Gave we have a change of 
Tense expressed by a change of Vowel. In the words Price 
and Prize a change of meaning is expressed by a change of 
Consonant. In Clothe and Clad there is a change both of a 
Vowel and a Consonant. In the words to use and a use, 
there is a similar change, although it is not expressed by the 
spelling. To the ear, the Verb to use ends in z, although 
not to the eye. 



iU. 


PERMUTATION OF VOWELS. 


a 


to 


e; 


as. 


man, men. 


a 


to 


oo; 


as. 


stand, stood. 


a 


to 


u; 


as, 


dare, durst. 


a 


to 


e; 


as. 


was, were. 


ea 


to 


o; 


as. 


speak, spoken. 


ea=^e 


to 


ea=e; 


as. 


breath, breathe. 


ee 


to 


e; 


as. 


deep, depth. 


ea 


to 


o; 


as. 


bear, bore. 


i 


to 


a; 


as. 


spin, span. 


i 


to 


u; 


as, 


spin, spun. 


i=ci 


to 


o; 


as. 


smite, smote. 


i=ei 


to 


^; 


as. 


smite, smitten. 


i 


to 


a; 


as. 


give, gave. 



PERMUTATION OF COMBINATIONS. HQ 

= ei to a ; as, rise, raise. 

as, sit, set. 

as, blow, blew. 

as, strong, strength. 

as, tooth, teeth. 

as, top, tip. 

as, oZ^, elder ; tell, told. 

as, brother, brethren. 

as, <io, 6^/^. 

as, 6^0, done. 

as, choose, chose. 



^ 



I 




to e; 


ow 




to ew ; 







to e ; 


00 




to ee; 







to e; 







to e; 


6 




to e; 


— 


•00 


to «"; 


= 


-.00 


to = 


00 




to o; 


^1. 




PERMU' 




f 


to v; 




p 


to «; 




« 


to 6^; 




d 


to t; 




s 


to 2r; 




s 


to r; 



TATION OF CONSONANTS. 

life, live ; calf, calves. 

breath, to breathe. 

seethe, sod; clothe, clad. 

build, built. 

use, to use. 

was, were ; lose, forlorn. 

In have and had we have the ejection of a sound ; in work 
and wrought, the transposition of one. Important changes 
are undergone by the sounds k, g, and the allied ones, nk, ng, 
y, as will be seen in the Chapter on Verbs. 

§82. PERMUTATION OF COMBINATIONS. 

I = ei to ou ; as, grind, ground. 

ou to i= ei ; as, mouse, mice ; cow, kine 

ink to augh ; as, drink, draught. 

ing to ough ; as, bring, brought. 

y (formerly g) to ought ; as, buy, bought. 

ig = ei to ough ; as, fight, fought. 

eek to ough; as, seek, sought. 

In all the words above, the change of sound has been brought 
about by the grammatical inflection of the word wherein it 
occurs. This is the case with the words life and live, and 
with all the rest. "With the German word leben, compared 
with the corresponding word live in English, the change is 
similar. It is brought about, however, not by a grammatical 



120 NATURAL SIGNIFICANCY OF 

inflection, but by a difference of Time and by a difference 
of Place. This indicates the distinction between the Permu- 
tation of Letters and the Transition of Letters. In dealing 
with Permutations, we compare different parts of Speech ; in 
dealing with Transitions, we compare different languages, or 
different stages of a single language. 

EXAMPLES OF THE TRANSPOSITION OF THE LET- 
TER R. 

§83. 1. Bird; compare Anglo-Saxon brfd. 

2. Board; compare xlnglo-Saxon bred, German brett. 

3. Brothel ; compare bordel. 

4. Burn; compare brand and brimstone. 

5. Cart ; compare Anglo-Saxon crcet, oral. 

6. Corn; compare Latin granum. 

. 7. For ; compare Latin pro, Greek Trpd. 

8. Fright; compare Anglo-Saxon /?/7ir^o, German /^rcA^. 

9. Frost ; compare Anglo-Saxon /or^^, Dutch vorst. 

10. Grass ; compare Anglo-Saxon goers, gers, gears. 

11. Horse; compare Old German hros, German ross, 
Dutch ros. 

12. Hundred ; compare German hundert, Dutch hunderd. 

13. Run ; compare Anglo-Saxon yrnan. 

14. Third ; compare Anglo-Saxon thridde, German dritte. 

15. Wrought dinA Wright ; compare z^?orA:. 

Compare Latin j^zs^n^ for pristis, '' a sea-monster;" Greek 
KpaSia for napdia, '^ the heart ;" Hebrew gazar and garaz, 
" to cut" 



CHAPTEE V. 

THE NATURAL SIGNIFICANCY OF ARTICULATE SOUNDS. 

§ 84. The proposition which we shall endeavor here to sup- 
port is the following : that language is not entirely arbitrary 
or conventional, but, on the contrary, articulate sounds have 
a natural adaptedness to express specific ideas. 



ARTICULATE SOUNDS. 



121 



This natural significance of sounds, although it has hith- 
erto been exhibited imperfectly, and only in distant surmises, 
is now beginning to be regarded as one of the deepest and 
most important doctrines in philology. It is considered as an 
established fact that every articulate sound has naturally a 
specific import. For, in order to the existence of language, it 
is not enough that man has the organs of speech, that he has 
sensations and ideas, and that he has a desire to communicate 
them to others ; but it is also necessary that sounds should 
have a natural adaptedness to express the particular sensa- 
tions and ideas. 

Although existing languages exhibit, as it were, only par- 
tial fragments and mutilated ruins of the ancient tongues 
once spoken on our earth, yet the principle for which we con- 
tend is still sufficiently evident in them, more especially in 
the popular dialects, and in the terms employed for describing 
sensible objects, operations, and relations. In innumerable 
cases, where the relation is the same, the same sound has 
been chosen, to speak algebraically, as the exponent of that 
relation. 

It must, however, be remarked that the natural signifi- 
cancy of sounds is, for the most part, a matter of feeling, and 
can not be exhibited in nice logical distinctions. Instruction 
on this subject can only furnish hints, v/hich may awaken 
attention to the life and energy which pervade language, and 
give a general idea of the import of sounds. 

Some of our best poets have been highly commended for 
adapting the sound to the sense. Surely this would not be 
possible, unless there were some correlation between sound 
and sense. 

The vowel constitutes the life and soul of a word, the con- 
sonant its body or form. The vowel is more fleeting and 
changeable, yet not entirely arbitrary. 

In examining the import of the different vowel and conso- 
nant sounds, we shall endeavor to follow the order of their 
development. Hence we begin with the vowels. 

I. The Mean Vowel a. 
The sound of a in father is to be regarded as the leading 



122 NATURAL SIGNIFICANCY OF 

vowel-souiid in the Indo-European languages ; (1.) Because 
it is the simplest and most easily enounced ; (2.) Because it 
is the first enounced by children ; (3.) Because it is the most 
common vowel-sound ; (4.) Because it is a part of most roots j 
and (5.) Because it stands at the head of most alphabets. 
Among the uses of this vowel are the following : 

1. As the enunciation of this vowel requires nothing but 
the ordinary position of the organs of speech, with a simple 
opening of the mouth and breathing, it is the natural expres- 
sion of passion, pain, or grief; as, Sanscrit ha^ Persian ah^ 
Hebrew ahh, Arabic ah, Greek a, Latin ah, German ach, ah, 
English ah, Welsh a, Irish a. 

2. It enters into some verbs signifying to breathe; as, 
Greek aw, Latin halo, halare. 

3. As the first and leading vowel, it is used where no rea- 
son exists for any special vowel. Hence it is found, as stated 
above, in a large proportion of Indo-European roots, in the 
technical names of the letters in Sanscrit, &c. 

II. The Extreme Vowels u and i. 

U, the lowest sound in the scale of vowels, is produced 
deep in the breast. Hence, 

1. It expresses low and obscure sounds; as, Greek iiopiivpw, 
Latin murmur o, Russian murtshu, German murren, English 
murmur; Greek ^v^w, Ltatm mutio, musso, English mutter; 
Dutch grommelen, English grumble; Danish grum, English 
grum, Welsh grwm ; Greek ypv^o), Old Latin grundio, Ger- 
man grunzen, English grunt. 

2. It expresses the red in color (for what reason does not 
appear) ; as, Greek epvdpo^, -nvppog^ nopcpvpa ; Latin ruber, ru- 
fus, purpura; German roth, Anglo-Saxon rude, English 
ruddy, Welsh rhuz, Armor ican ruz, Latin russus, rutilus, 
French roux. 

I, the highest sound in the scale of vowels, is produced 
high in the throat. Hence, 

1. It expresses whatever is clear, shrill, bright, or small ; 
as, Sanscrit didhi, to shine ; Latin viridis ; Greek fittcpog. 

2. It expresses the white in color (for what reason does not 
appear) ; as, Prussian sipid, white ; Latin lilium. 



AUTICULATE SOUNDS. 123 

III. The Mixed Vowels o and e. 

The 6>, which is formed from a and u, and the e, which is 
formed from a and z, partake of the import of the vowels 
whence they originate. 

Note. — The force of the vowels may be best exhibited in 
words which differ only in their vowels ; as, Greek Kpco^co, 
Kpd^G), Kpl^cx) ; ^aKpog and p,LKp6g ; d/laAa^w and eXeXi^o) ; Latin 
cachinnor, to laugh aloud, and German kichern, to titter ; 
English ball and pill, both from Latin pila ; English gloom 
and gleam ; flame and flimmer ; shake and shiver ; quake 
and quiver ; juggle, gaggle, giggle ; cluck, clack, click ; 
croak, crack, creak ; French gronder and grincer. 

In passing to the consonants, we observe that the strong 
or weak consonants naturally denote strength or weakness 
respectively, and that the consonant of a particular organ of 
speech usually enters into the name of that organ, 

IV. The Breathing or Aspiration h. 

The letter h, or the breathing, is naturally adapted to ex- 
press a breathing, or whatever occasions it, an aspiration 
for something; as, Latin halo, to breathe; Sanscrit iha^ 
desire ; Zendish honover, desire ; also, many Hebrew rootSj 
formed with hhav, hav, and av, Latin aveo, which primarily 
denote breathing. 

V. The Semi' Vowels w and y. 

These letters, from their extreme weakness, are naturally 
adapted to express weakness, gentle motion, and kindred ideas ; 
as, Latin vado (compare German waten, English wade) ; veho 
(compare German we gen in bewegen, English wag, weigh, 
wagon, wain, way, wave) ; vacillo (compare German wack- 
eln, English waggle) ; verto (compare Latin versus, German 
-warts, English -wards) ; volvo (compare German walzen, En- 
glish wallow, welter) ; German wallen, to spring up (whence 
English well) ; ivandern (English wander) ; wehen, to blow 
(compare Latin ventus, English wind) ; wenden, to turn (En-. 
glish wend, past went) ; winden (English wind) ; weichen, to 



124 NATURAL SIGNIFICANCY OF 

yield ; wuhlen, to stir. So w, when preceded by s or sh. 
See below. 

The Hebrew employs p initial, where the Arabic has w ; 
and the Teutonic uses w initial in the interrogative, where 
the Sanscrit has ?/. Hence these semi- vowels can not greatly 
differ in their import. 

VI. The Liquids 1 and r. 

These liquids are naturally opposed to each other, as smooth 
and rough. In some languages, as the Sanscrit, they con- 
stitute vowels. 

1. The smooth liquid / occurs in the name of the organ 
which is employed in its enunciation ; as, Latin lingua. 

2. It occurs in the name of actions in which the tongue is 
principally concerned ; as, Greek XaXeo) (compare Latin lallo, 
German lallen, English loll, Welsh llolian) ; AaTrrw (Latin 
lamho, Danish lahe, English lap, Welsh llepiaw, lleibiaiv) ; 
XacpvoGG), ksLx^ (Sanscrit lih, Latin lingo, ligurio, Lithuanian 
lezu, Russian lizhu, German lecken, English lick, Irish li- 
ghim) ; Xrjpeo) ; XoLdopscj ; Xv^g) ; Awfia^w. 

3. It expresses whatever is soft or soothing; as, Greek 
?Mvo), Xelog (Latin levis), Xevpog, Xiapog, XiTrd^cj, Xovcj (Latin 
luo, lavo). 

4. L final, in nouns, forms diminutives ; as, Greek epcjrvXog, 
a little lover, from spGjg ; Latin scutulum, a little shield, from 
scutum ; German bundel from bund, English bundle from 
bond ; Latin sacculus from saccus, German s'dckel from sack, 
English sachel or satchel from sack. In verbs it expresses 
a repetition of little actions ; as, Latin cantillo from canto ; 
German betteln from beten ; English prattle from prate; 
tingle from ting; tinkle from link; crackle from crack; 
twinkle from twink. 

The rough liqnid r has the following functions, either alone 
or preceded by k or g. 

1. It denotes rattling or broken sounds ; as, Greek /cpt^w, 
Kporecjy Kpovo); English croak, crack, creak, crash, rattle. 

2. It denotes interrupted or distorted motion; as, Ger- 
man rad, krumm ; English ring, rind, round, cramp, crook, 
crown, gripe, grasp, grapple. So wr. See below. 



ARTICULATE SOUNDS. ^25 

VII. The Nasals m, n, and ng. 

The nasals m and n are employed to express negation^ 
being the natural sounds to express refusal ; as, Sanscrit mciy 
Greek iir], lest ; Sanscrit na, Persian neh^ Greek ve (in vriniog), 
Latin ne (in non, nemo), German ne (in nicht, nein), English 
ne (in not, none), Lithuanian ne, Russian ne, Irish na, ni, 
Welsh na, ni, not. 

The labial nasal m is one of the earliest sounds of infants, 
being formed by their practiced lips, and is used, 

1 . To express the mother or nurse, on account of their ob- 
jective importance to the child ; as, Hebrew em, English ma, 
&c., mother ; German amme, nurse. 

2. To express the pronoun of the first person, on account 
of its subjective importance to every one ; as, Sanscrit mam, 
Greek \ik, Latin me, English me, &c. 

3. To express one of the most important mental operations; 
as, Sanscrit man, Greek fjLrjvvG), Latin moneo, memini, Ger- 
man mahnen, meinen, English mean (compare Latin mens, 
English mind). 

The lingual nasal n occurs in the name of the organ con- 
cerned; as, Latin nasus, English nose. 

VIII. The Dentals s, sh, z, and zh. 

The name sibilants given to this class of letters sufficiently 
indicates their import ; compare Latin sibilo. 

Ss final denotes sharp sounds ; as, English hiss, siss, whis- 
per, whistle. 

Z final denotes sounds less sharp ; as, English whiz, buzz. 

Sh final denotes silence ; as, hush ; also, sounds or sights 
which break off suddenly ; as, English clash, crash, flash, 
splash. 

Sh initial expresses aversion ; as, German scheu, English 
shy /English pshaw ; shogh. 

IX. The Palatal Mutes c or k, g, kh, and gh. 

The import of the palatals is the least definite. Yet the 
atonic k is justly supposed to have a natural appropriateness 
to perform the function of an interrogative ; as, Sanscrit kas, 



126 NATURAL SIGNIFICANCY OF 

Greek icog (whence Korepog^, Latin quis, Moeso-Gothic hwas, 
Lithuanian kas, Russian koi, Gaelic cOj who ? A palatal is 
also found in words denoting holloioness and holding-; as, 
Greek icoiXog (whence Latin coslum) ; Latin cavus, capio. 

X. The Lingual Mutes t, d, th, and dh. 

1. The lingual, whether atonic or subtonic, has a natural 
adaptedness to perform the function of a demonstrative ; as, 
Sanscrit tat, it, tataras, one of two ; Greek ro, rovro, rooog, 
rologj &c. ; Latin tantus, tot, talis, &c. ; Lithuanian tas, ta, 
to, that ; Gothic thata, that ; German der, die, das, this ; 
English that, this, &c. 

2. The lingual is also found in three families of words, very 
extensively diffused through the Indo-European languages, 
each of which has the general import of pointing or demon- 
strating ; as, (1.) Sanscrit tan, Greek ravvo), relvo), Latin 
teneo, tendo, German dehnen, Russian tianu, English tend. 
(2.) Sanscrit dis^, Greek dekw, Latin dico, doceo, German 
zeigen, L'ish teagasgaim, English teach. (3.) Sanscrit da, 
Greek (5dw, didcduL, Latin do, Lithuanian dumi, Russian daiu, 
to give. 

XI. The Labial Mutes p, b, ph, and v. 

1. The labials, from the ease with which they are enounced, 
have been employed to denote the first objects which interest 
the child ; as, Sanscrit pilar, Zendish paitar, Persian padar, 
Greek irdTrjp, Latin pater, Russian batia, German vater, 
English father, Turkish peder ; also, English papa. 

2. They denote fulhiess or extension, from their swelling 
the cheeks ; as, Greek izXeot;, irXrjpTjg, Latin pleo, plenus, G-qt- 
meiii fallen, voll, 'English fill, full. 

3. They also express aversion, from their puffing or blow- 
ing ; as, Arabic uffu, Greek (psv, Latin j9^y, English fie, poh. 

XII. The Mixed Consonants tsh and dzh. 

These consonants are introduced here for the sake of show- 
ing the difference between the physiological and the etymo- 
logical development of sounds. 

Tsh in English (where it is expressed by ch) is not an 



ARTICULATE SOUNDS. ^27 

original sound, but has arisen, in the mutation of languages^ 
from other sounds ; as, chaff, from Anglo-Saxon ceaf; chalice^ 
from Latin calix ; change, from French changer ; cheeky 
from Anglo-Saxon ceac ; cherry, from Latin cerasiis ; cher- 
ish, from French cherir ; child, from Anglo-Saxon cild; chief, 
from French chef; chimney, from Latin caminus ; choose, 
from Anglo-Saxon ceosan ; chuck, from French choquer ; 
church, from Anglo-Saxon circ. So tsh in Italian (where it 
is expressed by c before e and i) has arisen from the Latin c ; 
as, Cicero (pronounced tshitshero), from Latin Cicero (pro- 
nounced kikero). Hence we have no occasion to investigate 
the import of tsh in modern languages. Its meaning, as an 
original sound in ancient Sanscrit, lies too remote for our 
present purpose. 

Dzh in English, so far as it is expressed by g, is derived 
from Latin g, which had a hard sound ; and, so far as it is 
expressed by j, is derived from the Latin j, and ultimately 
from the Sanscrit y. Hence all inquiry as to the import of 
our modern dzh is superseded. 

XIII. Consonants in Combination. 

We shall perceive the natural force of the letters to better 
advantage by taking some of them in combination. 

Bl and fl denote blowing, blooming, and flowing ; as, 
Latin j'^o, German bl'dhen, blasen, English blow, blaze, blast, 
bluster, blister, bladder ; Greek (pXoog, lja.tm flos, floreo, Ger- 
man bliihen, bliithe, blume, English flower, flourish, bloom, 
blossom; Greek (ItXeo), (pXlo), (f)XvG), LtSitm fluo, Gevmsin flies- 
sen, fluth, English flow, flood ; Latin fleo, to weep. 

CI or kl denotes cleaving or adhering ; as, English cleave, 
clay (adhesive earth), cling, clinch, clutch, climb (whence 
clamber), clot (whence clod), clasp. 

Cr or kr. See the force of the letter r, above. 

Gl denotes smoothness or silent motion ; as, English glib, 
glide. 

Gn, jn, or kn denotes a sudden breaking off ; as, Sanscrit 
janus, Greek yovv, Latin genu, German knie, English knee; 
JjSitmj anua, a break in a wall. 

Gr. See the force of the letter r, above. 



128 NATURAL SIGNIFICANCY OF SOUNDS. 

Kn. See gn, above. 

Shiv and sw denote gentle motion (compare the force of the 
letter w^ above) ; as, German schwellen, schwimmen^ schwin- 
gen; English sway^ swagger, sweep, swerve, swell, swine^ 
swing, 

SI denotes smoothness or silent motion; as, slide, slip, 
slime, sleight, sly. 

Sn denotes ideas relating to the nose (compare the force 
of the letter n, above) ; as, English snarl, sneer, sneeze, snick- 
er, snivel, snore, snort, snout, snuff, snuffle. 
V Spr denotes a spreading out ; as, English spread, sprai^i, 
sprawl, spring, sprinkle. 

St denotes firmness or stability ; as, English stable, staff, 
stake, stalk, stall, stand, stay, steady, stem, stick, stiff, stock, 
stout, stub, stubble, stubborn, stump, sturdy. 

Str seems to denote exertion ; as, English strain, strenu- 
ous, stress, strike (whence stroke, streak), strip (whence 
strap, stripe^, strive (whence strife), string, strong (whence 
strength), strict, strait, straight, stretch, struggle. 

Thr denotes violent motion; as, English throw, thrust, 
throng, throb. 

Tw is found in a large class of English words connected 
with the number two. 

Wr evidently denotes distorted motion (compare the force 
of the letter r, above); as, English wrap, wreck (whence 
wrack), wrest (whence wrist, wrestle), ivrig (whence wrig- 
gle), wring (whence ivrong, wrangle, wrench), wrinkle, 
writhe (whence wreath, writhle, wry). 

We forbear to add more, hoping that what we have said 
will be sufficient to support our position, that language is not 
entirely arbitrary or conventional, but, on the contrary, ar- 
ticulate sounds have a natural adaptedness to express specific 
ideas. 



WORDS AND SYLLABLES. 



129 



CHAPTER VI. 

WORDS AND SYLLABLES. 

§ 85. 1. A Word, in the Spoken language, is an elementary 
sound, or a combination of elementary sounds, uttered by the 
human voice. A word, in the Written language, is the let- 
ter or the combination of letters which represent these sounds ; 
as, a, art^ under. 

2. A Syllable, in the Spoken language, is one or more ele- 
mentary sounds pronounced by a single impulse of the voice, 
and constituting a word or a part of a word. A Syllable, in 
the Written language, is a letter or a combination of letters 
which represent a syllable in the spoken language ; as, an^ 
wis-dom. 

3. In the word man there are three elementary sounds, con- 
stituting one syllable in the spoken language. These three 
sounds are represented by the three letters m, «, n, which 
together constitute one syllable in the written language. The 
word syllable is from the Greek words ovv^ with, and Xadetv, 
to- take. Every syllable in the written language has at least 
one vowel, but this is not always sounded in pronunciation ; 
as, in the last syllables of ta-ble, rea-son, e-v^l, nev-er. 

4. Words consisting of single syllables are called monosyl- 
lables, from the Greek word [lovo^, alone; as, man, he. Words 
consisting of two syllables are called dissyllables, from the 
Greek word dig, twice ; as, o-ver, un-der. Words consisting 
of three syllables are called trisyllables, from the Greek word 
rpig, thrice ; as, dis-a-ble, fa-tlier-less. Words consisting of 
more than three syllables are called polysyllables, from the 
Greek word -noXvq, many ; as, fer-men-ta-tion. 

5. In certain words of more than one syllable it is difficult 
to say to which syllable the intervening Consonant belongs. 
For instance, does the v in river and the v in fever belong 
to the first or to the second syllable ? Are the words to be 
divided thus, ri-ver, fe-ver ? or thus, riv-er, fev-er ? 

I 



130 WORDS AND SYLLABLES. 

§ 86. The case is capable of being presented in two points 
of view, namely, an Etymological and a Phonetic one. 

That the c and r in become, berhymed belong to the Sec- 
ond syllable, we determine at once by taking the words to 
pieces, whereby we get the words -come and -rhymed, in an 
isolated independent form. But though this settles the point 
in Etymology, it leaves it as it was in Phonetics, since it in 
no wise follows that, because the c in the simple word come 
is exclusively attached to the letter that follows it, it is, in 
the compound word become, exclusively attached to it also. 
For such words as Episcopal, atrophy, bigamy, can not be 
divided according to their Etymology without violating the 
rules of Phonetics, as would be done if they were divided thus. 
Episcopal, a-trophy, bi-gamy. The compounds of Anglo- 
Saxon origin, as, up-on, never -the-less, false-hood, may usu- 
ally be divided without violating the principles of phonetics ; 
with respect to those of foreign origin, there is more room for 
doubt. Derivative and Grammatical terminations should gen- 
erally be separated from the radical word; as, Lov-er, love-ly ; 
yet even here there are some exceptions ; as, we say Wri-t&i'j 
wri-ting, not writ-er, ivrit-ing. 

§ 87. 1. In pronouncing the sound oi p in ap, the current 
of air from the lungs is stopped by the closure of the lips. 
This may be called the sound of breath arrested. 

2. In pronouncing the sound of ^ in pa, the current of air 
issues from the lungs by the opening of the lips. This may 
be called the sound of breath escaping. 

We have, then, in the natural sound of p, two elements. 
Let the sound of breath arrested be expressed by rr, and that 
of breath escaping be expressed by g3, the two together form 
the current natural sound oi p [tt -\- ib = p) . 

3. Now what may be said oi p may be said of all the other 
Consonants, the words tongue, teeth, &c., being used instead 
of lips, according to the case. 

In the formation of syllables, the sound of breath Arrested 
belongs to the first, and the sound of breath Escaping be- 
longs to the second syllable, as in the word hap-py. The 
whole Consonant, belongs neither to one syllable nor to the 
other. Half of it belongs to each. The reduplication of 



WORDS AND SYLLABLES. X31 

the p in happy ^ the t in pitted^ &c., is a mere point of 
spelling. 

The combinations of sounds which are adopted in the lan- 
guage were chosen chiefly in reference to ease of pronuncia- 
tiouj while such as are difficult of utterance and disagreeable 
to the ear are rejected. As certain combinations of Conso- 
nantal Sounds (see § 64) are unpronounceable, so certain Vow- 
el Sounds will not unite with each other. Accordingly, there 
must be in a word as many Syllables as there are Vov^el 
Sounds perceptible to the ear. 

RULES FOR THE DIVISION OF WORDS INTO SYLLABLES. 

§ 88. 1. Two Vowels coming together, and not forming a 
Diphthong, are divided into Separate Syllables ; as, Li-on^ 
cru-el. 

2. A single consonant between two vowels is joined to 
the latter ; as, Pa-per^ Ca-to. But the letter x is joined to 
the former vowel ; as, Ex-ert. To this rule there are many 
exceptions; as, Ep-ic, pref-ace, up-on. 

3. Two consonants between two vowels are separated ; as, 
Fur-nace, bed-lam ; except when the latter consonant should 
not begin a syllable alone ; as, Fa-ble. 

4. Three or more consonants between two vowels are not 
separated if the preceding vowel is pronounced long ; as. De- 
throne, destroy. But when the vowel of the preceding syl- 
lable is pronounced short, one of the consonants always be- 
longs to that syllable. 

5. When three or four consonants not proper to begin a 
syllable meet between two vowels, such of them as can be- 
gin a syllable belong to the latter, the rest to the former 
syllable ; as. Abstain, trans-gress. 

6. Grammatical terminations are generally separated ; as, 
Teach-er, teach-est. Compound words must be traced into 
the simple words ; as, Over-poiver. 

THE MONOSYLLABIC CHARACTER. 

§ 89. The English language is eminently Monosyllabic, 
as may be seen by a comparison with the Latin of terms in 
common use. 



^■" 



132 MONOSYLLABIC CHARACTER 

English. Latin. English. Lati 



Head, 


Caput. 


Touch, 


Tactus. 


Hair, 


Crinis. 


Deaf, 


Surdus, 


Tongue, 


, Lingua. 


Dumb, 


Mutus, 


Scalp, 


Pericranium. 


Dog, 


Canis. 


Eye, 


Oculus. 


Hen, 


Gallina, 


Lip, 


Labrum. 


Rain, 


Pluvia. 


Hand, 


Manus. 


Wind, 


Ventus. 


Sight, 


Visus. 


Hail, 


Grando. 



Here we have thirty-eight syllables in Latin to express what 
is expressed in English by sixteen. 

The same monosyllabic principle is carried out in the 
construction of our verbs; as, To see, to hear, to taste, to 
touch, to smell, to walk, to run, to leap, to jump. Fire is 
said to burn, to glow, to scorch, to parch. Water is said 
to flow, to glide, to gush, to rush, to foam, to dash. In the 
sky we have the sun, moon, and stars. The earth yields grass, 
corn, hay, trees, wheat. Our ordinary food is bread, fowl, 
flesh, fish. Our fuel is wood, peat, coal, turf. To mourn, 
to sigh, to groan, to weep, to laugh, express affections of 
the mind. These, and words like these, form the staple of 

the English language. 

" That is a step 
On which I must fall down, or else o'erleap, 
For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires ; 
Let not light see my black and deep desires. 
The eye winks at the hand. Yet let that be 
Which the eye fears, when it is done, to see." 

Shakspeare's Macbeth. 

Here we have fifty -two words, and but two dissyllables. 
" For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast, 
And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed ; 
And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill, 
And their hearts beat but once, and forever lay stilL 
And there lay the steed with his nostril all wide, 
And through them there rolled not the breath of his pride ; 
And the foam of his gasping lay white on the turf, 
And cold as the spray on the rock-beating surf" 

Byron's Destruction of Sennacherib. 

Of these eighty-nine consecutive words, seventy-nine are 
monosyllables, and seventy-seven of these monosyllables are 
of Anglo-Saxon origin. 



QUANTITY. 133 



CHAPTER VII. 

aUANTITY. 

§ 90. The word Quantity is used in two senses : I. The 
Classic, when it has reference to the length of Syllables, or 
the time taken up in pronouncing them. II. The English, 
when it has reference to the length of Vowels, or the time 
taken up in pronouncing them. 

1. The Quantity of Vowels. — By comparing the Sound 
of the letter a in/«^e with that of a in fat, we perceive two 
things, a Likeness and a Difference. The Likeness consists 
in both sounds having the character of a ; the Difference con- 
sists in the unequal length of the two sounds. In fate the 
vowel is pronounced slowly, so that the time taken up in 
the utterance is, comparatively speaking. Long. In fat the 
vowel is pronounced less slowly, so that the time taken up 
in the utterance is, comparatively speaking. Short. Hence 
the a in fate, and the vowel sounds like it, are called Long 
Vowels ; and the a in fat, and the vowel sounds like it, are 
called Short Vowels. 

Short Vowela. 



Long ■ 


Vowels. 


a 


in 


father. 


a 


u 


fate. 


ee 


u 


feet. 


00 


u 


cool. 





(( 


note, i 


aw 


a 


bawl. 



a 


in fat. 


e 


'« bed. 


t 


" pit. 


u 


'^ bull. 





" not. 



u " but. 

AH the Diphthongs are long. But, besides the extremes, 
there are degrees in the length and the shortness of vowels, 
See 3, p. 134. 

2. The Quantity of Syllables. — If we determine the quan- 
tity of the Syllable by the quantity of the Vowel, all Sylla- 
bles are short in which there is a Short Vowel, and all long 



X34 ' QUANTITY. 

wherein there is a Long one. According to this mode, the 
syllable see- in seeing- is long, and sits is short ; but this is 
not the view commonly taken of these syllables by the Clas- 
sical scholar. He measures his Quantity, not by the Length 
of the Vowel, but by the length of the syllable taken alto- 
gether. He is disposed to regard see- in seeing, being followed 
by another Vowel, as short, and sits he regards as long, the 
syllable being closed by two Consonants. 

3. The Syllable men and the Syllable 7nend are of different 
lengths. The latter is longer than the former by the sound 
expressed by the letter d. In both syllables, however, the Vow- 
el is the same, and, consequently, of the same quantity. 
Thus we see that, so far as the vowel taken by itself is con- 
cerned, the two syllables men and mend are of the same length, 
while they are of different lengths if the vowel be considered 
along with the consonants that follow it. 

Hence we see, first, that if one person measures bis Quan- 
tity by the Vowels, and another by the Syllables, what is 
Short to the one shall be Long to the other. Secondly, that 
one of the most essential differences between the English and 
the Classical Languages is, that the Quantities of the first 
are measured by the Vowel, and those of the latter by the 
Syllable. To a Roman the word monument consists of two 
short syllables and one long one; to an. Englishman it con- 
tains three short syllables. In the English language, the 
quantity of the vowel determines the quantity of the syllable. 

§ 91. Professor Latham proposes for the words Long 'q.yA 
Short, to substitute Independent and Dependent. He says, 
>' If from the word fate I separate the final consonantal sound, 
the syllable fa remains. In this syllable the a has precisely 
the sound which it had before. It remains unaltered. The 
removal of the consonant has in no wise modified its sound 
or power. It is not so with the vowel in the word /a/. If 
from this I remove the consonant following, and so leave the 
a at the end of the syllable, instead of in the middle, I must 
do one of two things : I must sound it either as a in fate, or 
else as the a in father. Its (so-called) short sound it can not 
retain, unless it is supported by a Consonant following. For 
this reason it is Dependent. The same is the case with all 



QUANTITY. ]^35 

the so-oalied short sounds, viz. : the e in bed, i in fit, u in 
hull, o in not, u in but. The words Independent and De- 
pendent correspond with the terms Perfect and Imperfect of 
the Hebrew Grammarians." 

1 . The division of Vowels into Long and Short coincides 
nearly with the division of them into Independent and De- 
pendent. Mark the word, nearly. In the length and short- 
ness of vowels there are Degrees. This is especially the case 
with the broad vowels, a, o, and u. The a in father is ca- 
pable of being pronounced very quickly or very slowly. It 
may be uttered most rapidly, and yet preserve its broad char- 
acter ; i. e., become neither the a in fat, nor the a in fate. 
In the Independence and Dependence of vowels there are no 
degrees. The Vowel ee in seeing is Long, and it is certainly 
Independent. Whether the syllable see be Long, is another 
question. The u in monument is short. It is not, however, 
Dependent. 

(a) All Dependent Vowels are Short, but all short Vowels 
are not Dependent, (b) All Long Vowels are Independent, 
but all Independent Vowels are not long. 

2. The Independent Vowel in the Syllable see- is Long ; 
and Long it remains, whether it stand as it is, or be followed 
by a Consonant, as in seen, or by a Vowel, as in seeing. 

3. The Dependent Vowel in the word sit is short. If fol- 
lowed by a vowel, it becomes unpronounceable, except as the 
ea in seat, or the i in sight. By a consonant, however, it 
may be followed, and still retain its Dependent character, and 
also its shortness. Such is the power it has in the word 
quoted, sit. Followed by a second consonant it still retains 
its Shortness, e. g., sits. "Whatever the comparative length 
of the Syllables see and seen, sit and sits, may be, the length 
of their respective Vowels is the same. 

4. Now if we determine the character of a syllable by the 
character of the vowel, all syllables are short wherein there 
is a Short Vowel, and all are long wherein there is a Long 
one. Measured by the Quantity of the Vowel, the word sits 
is Short, and the Syllable see- in seeing is Long. 

§ 92. From the preceding views, the statement in Murray's 
Grammar can be the better appreciated. 



136 QUANTITY. 

A Vowel or syllable is long when the accent is on the 
Vowel, which occasions it to be slowly joined in the pronun- 
ciation of the following letters ; as, jP«7/, bd'le. A syllable 
is short when the accent is on the Consonant, which occa- 
sioi^s the Vowel to be quickly joined to the succeeding letter ; 
as, Bdn'ner. 

A Long syllable generally requires double the time of a 
short one in pronouncing it. Thus, Mate and Note should 
be pronounced as slowly again as Mat and Not. 

Unaccented syllables are generally short ; as, Admi're, 
bald'ness. But to this rule there are many exceptions ; as, 
Al'so^ ex'ile. 

When the accent is on a consonant, the syllable is often 
more or less short, as it ends with a single consonant or more 
than one ; as, Rob"ber, match'less. When the accent is on 
a Continuous consonant, the time of the syllable may be pro- 
tracted by dwelling on the consonant ; as, C an' , fulfill' . But 
when the accent falls on an Explosive consonant, the syllable 
can not be lengthened in the same manner ; as, Bub'ble^ 
tot'ter. 

1. All vowels under the principal accent, before the term- 
inations -m, -io, and 4on^ preceded by a single consonant, 
are pronounced long ; as. Regalia^ folio^ adhesion^ explosion^ 
confusion; except the vowel /, which in that situation is 
short ; as, Militia^ punctilio^ decision^ contrition. The only 
exceptions to this rule seem to be, Discretion^ battalion^ 
gladiator^ national^ rational. 

- 2. All vowels that immediately precede the terminations 
'ity and -ety are pronounced long ; as. Deity ^ piety ^ spon- 
taneity. But if one consonant precedes these terminations, 
every preceding accented vowel is short ; except u^ and the 
a in scarcity ; as. Polarity, severity, divinity, curiosity, im- 
punity. Even u before two consonants contracts itself; as, 
Curvity, taciturnity, &c. 

3. Vowels under the principal accent, before the termina- 
tions 'ic and -ical, preceded by a single consonant, are pro- 
nounced short ; thus, Satanic, pathetic, elliptic, harmonic^ 
have the vowel short ; while Tunic, riinic, cubic, have the 
accented vowel long ; and Fanatical, poetical, Levitical, 



ACCENT. 



137 



canonical^ have the vowel short ; but Cubical^ musical^ &c., 
have the u long. i 

4. The vowel in the antepenultimate syllable of words, 
with the following terminations, is always pronounced short. 



4oquy, 


as obloquy. 


-parous, 


as 


oviparous. * 


-strophe^ 


, '' apostrophe. 


-cracy, 




aristocracy. 


-meter^ 


" barometer. 


'gony, 




cosmogony. 


'gonal, 


«« diagonal. 


-phony, 




symphony. 


-vorous, 


" carnivorous. 


-nomy, 




astronomy. 


-ferous, 


" somniferous. 


-tomy, 




anatomy. 


-Jluous, 


'« superfluous. 


-pathy, 




antipathy. 


-fluent^ 


" mellifluent. 






' 



CHAPTER VIII. 



ACCENT. 



§ 93. Accent, from the Latin ad, and cano, to sing, is a 
particular stress of voice or ictus upon certain syllables of 
words, which distinguish them from others. In the word ty- 
rant there is a stress on the first syllable. In the word pre- 
sume there is a stress on the second syllable. This stress is 
called Accent, which is sometimes expressed by a mark ( ' ) ; 
in which case the word is said to be accented, that is, to have 
the accent signified by writing. 

1. Words accented on the last syllable : Brigade', pre- 
tense', harpoon'. Words accented on the last syllable but 
one : Anchor, has'ten, fa'ther. Words accented on the last 
syllable but two : Reg'ular, an'tidote, for'tify. Words ac- 
cented on the last syllable but three : Reg'ulating, ab'solute- 
ly, inev'itable. 

2. Some words have a Secondary accent ; as, Car"avan', 
vi"olin', pri"vateer'. 

3. " In words from the Anglo-Saxon, the accent is generally 
on the root ; in words from the Classical languages, it is gen- 
erally on the termination. If to tnese we add the different 



138 ACCENT. 

accent we lay on some words to distinguish them from others 
spelled like them, we seem to have the three great principles 
of accentuation, namely, the radical, the terminationaly and 
the distinctive ; as, Lo've, love'ly, love'liness; 2.Er'ror, er^ 
ro'neous ; 3. Con'vert, to convert'.''^ — Murray's Grammar. 

4. Whether the statement concerning the terminational 
accent needs further qualification or not, at least many words 
have the distinctive accent. Thus, At' tribute, to attribute ; 
the month Au' gust, an august' person ; a Com' pact, com- 
pact', close ; to con' jure (magically), to conjure', enjoin ; 
Des'ert, wilderness, desert' , merit ; Min'ute, sixty seconds, 
minute', small ; Su'pine, part of speech, supine', careless. 

5. '' When one word in a sentence is distinguished by a 
stress as more important than the rest, we say that it is em- 
phatical, or that an emphasis is laid upon it." Here, then, 
is a Logical Accent. " When one syllable in a word is dis- 
tinguished by a stress, and more audible than the rest, we 
say that it is accented, or that an accent is put on it. Accent, 
therefore, is to syllables what emphasis is to sentences ; it 
distinguishes one from the crowd, and brings it forward to ob- 
servation." — Nares's Orthoepy. 

§ 94. 1. Accent plays an important part in determining the 
nature of certain compound words. For this, see the Sec- 
tion on Composition. 

2. Accent plays an important part in determining the na- 
ture of the English Meters. See Prosody. 

8. Accent plays an important part in all systems of or- 
thography. 

§ 95. Accent on Dissyllables. — Words of two syllables 
have necessarily one of them accented, and but one. The 
word A'men' is the only word which is pronounced with two 
accents when alone. 

1. Dissyllables formed by affixing a termination have the 
former syllable commonly accented ; as, Child'ish, king'dom. 
- 2. Dissyllables formed by prefixing a syllable to the rad- 
ical word have commonly the accent on the latter ; as. To 
beseem'^ to retain'. 

3. Of Dissyllables which are at once nouns and verbs, the 
verb has commonly the accent on the latter and the noun on 



ACCENT. 



139 



the former syllable ; as, To cement', a ce'ment ; to contract', 
a con'tract. 

4. Dissyllables that have two vowels which are separated 
in the pronunciation, have always the accent on the first ; as, 
Li' on, ri'ot, except crea'te. 

§ 96. Accent on Trisyllables. — 1. Trisyllables formed by 
adding a termination or prefixing a syllable, retain the ac- 
cent on the radical word ; as, Ten'derness, bespat' ter. 2. 
Large classes of words of three syllables have the accent on 
the first; as, Coun'tenance, en'tity, leg'ible, hab'itiide. 3, 
Trisyllables ending in -ator, or which have in the middle syl- 
lable a diphthong, or a vowel before two consonants, accent 
the middle syllable ; as, Sped a' tor, endeav'or, domes' tic, ex- 
cept Or'ator, sen'ator, bar'rator, leg'ator. 4. Trisyllables 
that have their accent on the last syllable are commonly 
French ; as, Repartee', magazine'. 

§ 97. Accent on Polysyllables. — Polysyllables generally 
follow the accent of the words from which they are derived ; 
as, Ar'rogating, incon'tinently. — See Murray's Grammar. 

§ 98. Accent and Quantity do not coincide. Nothing shows 
this more clearly than words like the Adjective August', and 
the Substantive Au' gust, w^hen the Quantity remains the 
same, although the Accent is different. 

''Besides the increase of loudness, and the sharper tone 
which distinguishes the accented syllable, there is also a tend- 
ency to dwell upon it, or, in other words, to lengthen its quan- 
tity. AVe can not increase the loudness or the sharpness of the 
tone without a certain degree of muscular action ; and to put 
the muscles in motion requires time. It would seem that the 
time required for producing a perceptible increase in the loud- 
ness or the sharpness of a tone is greater than that of pro- 
nouncing some of our shorter syllables. If we attempt^ far 
instance, to throw the accent on the first syllable of the word 
become, we rriust either lengthen the Vowel, and pronounce 
the word bee-come, or add the adjoining Consonant to the first 
syllable, and so pronounce the word bec-ome. We often find 
it convenient to lengthen the quantity even of the syllables, 
when we wish to give them a very strong and marked accent. 
Hence, no doubt, arose the vulgar notion that Accent always 



140 PRINCIPLES OF ORTHOEPY. 

lengthens the Quantity of a Syllable." — See Guest's Ed 
glish Rhythms, book i., ch. xiv. On the relation of Acceift 
to Quantity, see Part VIII., on Poetical Forms. 



CHAPTER IX. 

PRINCIPLES OF ORTHOEPY. 

§ 99. Orthoepy is a word derived from the Greek opOov 
(upright), and enog (a word), and signifies the right utterance 
of words. Orthoepy differs from Orthography by determining 
how words are to be spoken ; whereas Orthography determ- 
ines how they are spelled. The one is a question of speech, 
the other a question of spelling. Orthography presupposes 
Orthoepy. Quintilian has said that a vicious orthography 
must bring on a vicious pronunciation. Quod male scribitur, 
male etiam dici necesse est. But the converse of this is still 
more true, '' inasmuch as the visible form of language natu- 
rally accommodates itself to the pronunciation." — Hallam, 
Hist. Lit., vol. i., p. 34. 

Of Pronunciation there are two kinds, the Colloquial and 
the Rhetorical. In common conversation we pronounce the 
i in wind like the i in bit ; in rehearsing or in declamation, 
and in singing, however, we pronounce it like the i in bite, 
to rhyme with bind. In reading the Scriptures, we say bless- 
ed ; in current speech we say blest. It is the same in many 
words occurring in poetry. In the rapidity of common con- 
versation, sounds, which ought to be distinctly brought out, are 
often slurred over and sunk in the pronunciation, as if they 
had no place in the language. 

ERRORS IN PRONUNCIATION. 

§ 100. 1. To pronounce the Verb to survey' as if it were 
sur'vep, that is, with the accent on the first syllable, is to 
err with respect to the accentuation of the word. 

2. To say or a' tor instead of or'dtor, is to err in respect to 
quantity and accent. 



ERRORS IN PRONUNCIATION. i^i 

3. To pronounce the a in father as a in fate, or the s in 
sound as ^r, is to err in the matter of articulate sounds. 

4. To pronounce chemistry as if it were spelled chymistry, 
or chymistry as if it were spelled chemistry, is an error either 
of Orthoepy or of Orthography. 

5. The Misdivision of Syllables has given rise to a pecul- 
iar class of words. There have been those who have written 
a nambassador for an ambassador, misdividing the syllables 
and misdistributing the sound of the letter n. The double 
form (a and an) of the English Indefinite Article encourages 
this misdivision. Now in certain words an error of this kind 
has had a permanent influence. The English word nag is 
in Danish og, the n in English having originally belonged to 
the Indefinite an, which preceded it. The words, instead of 
being divided thus, an ag, were divided thus, a nag, and the 
fault became perpetuated. That the Danish is the true form, 
we collect, first, from the ease with which the English form 
is accounted for ; and, secondly, from the Old Saxon form ehu, 
Latin equus. In adder we have the process reversed. The 
true form i^nadder. Old English ; natter, German. Here the 
n is taken from the Substantive and added to the Article. 

§ 101. 1. The Fault of Incompetent Enunciation. — A per- 
son who says sick for thick, or elebben for eleven, does so not 
because he knows no better, but because he can not enounce 
the right sound of th and v. He is incompetent to it. His 
error is not one of ignorance. It is an acoustic or a phonetic 
defect. 2. The Fault of Erroneous Enunciation. — This is the 
error of a person who talks oijocholate instead of chocolate. 
It is not that he can not pronounce rightly, but that he mis- 
takes the nature of the sound required. Still more the per- 
son who calls a hedge an edge, and an edge a hedge. 

§ 102. One cause of an erroneous enunciation is found in 
Undefined notions as to the language to which a word be- 
longs. The flower anemone is variously pronounced. Those 
who know Greek are disposed to say anemone, as if the word 
was written anemohny. The mass say anemone, as if the 
word was written anemmony. Now the doubt here is as to 
the language of the word. If it be Greek, it is anemone. 



142 PRINCIPLES OF ORTHOEPY. 

AtjUa podov TLTfcei, rd de ddtcpva rdv ^A.veiJLG)vov. 

BlON. 

And if it be English, it isj on the score of analogy, undoubt- 
edly anem' one. The pronunciation of the word is determin- 
ed when we have determined the language of it. A large 
class of words are pronounced in different ways, because opin- 
ions are divided in respect to the fact whether they are En- 
glish words or foreign words. 

A second cause of an erroneous pronunciation is found in 
Mistakes as to fact, the language of a word being determ- 
ined. To know the word anemone to be Greek, and to use 
it as a Greek word, but to call it an'emone, is not to be un- 
decided as to a matter of language, but to be ignorant of a 
matter of quantity. To know that debris is a French word, 
and yet to call it debriss', is to be ignorant of the French 
pronunciation. 

A third cause of an erroneous pronunciation is foun(J in 
the Neglect of Analogy. Each and all of the following 
words. Orator, theater, senator, are in the Latin language, 
from whence they are derived, accented on the second sylla- 
ble ; as. Or a' tor, thea'ter, sena'tor. In English, on the con- 
trary, they are accented on the first ; as, Or'ator, the'ater, sen'- 
ator. The same is the case in many words similarly derived. 
They similarly suffer a change of accent. So many words 
do this, that it is the rule in the English for v/ords to throw 
their accent from the second syllable, counting from the end 
of the word, to the third. It was on the strength of this rule, 
in other words, on the analogies of orator, &c., that the En- 
glish pronunciation of the Greek word 'Aveficovrj was stated to 
he Anem'ony. Now to take a word derived from the Latin, 
and to look to its origin and quantity only, without consult- 
ing the analogy of other words similarly derived, is to be neg- 
lectful of the analogies of our own language, and attentive to 
the quantities of a foreign one. While a word is a foreign 
word, it should be treated as a stranger, and as subject to the 
laws of the language of its own country; but when it has 
become naturalized, its foreign aspect and accent should be 
laid aside. In orthography and orthoepy, it should conform 
to the laws of the English language. 



STANDARDS OF PRONUNCIATION. 143 



THE STANDARDS OF PRONUNCIATION. 

§ 103. In matters of Orthoepy, it is the usual custom to 
appeal to one of the following standards : 

I. The Authority of Scholars. — -This is of value up to a 
certain point only. The fittest person for determining the 
classical pronunciation of a word like anemone is the Classical 
Scholar ; but the mere Classical Scholar is far from being 
the fittest person to determine the analogies that such a word 
follows in English. 

IT. The Usage of Educated Bodies, such as the Bar, the 
Pulpit, the Senate, &c. — -These are recommended by two 
circumstances : 1 . The chance that each member of them is 
sufficiently a scholar in foreign tongues to determine the orig- 
inal pronunciation of derived words, and sufficiently a critic 
in his own language to be aware of the analogies that are in 
operation. 2. The number of imitators that, irrespective of 
the. worth of his pronunciation, each individual carries with 
him. On this latter ground the Stage is a sort of standard. 
The objection to the authority of educated bodies is its im- 
practicability. It is only the usage of the component indi- 
viduals that can be determined. Of these many may carry 
with them the dialects of their provinces, or of the family or 
neighborhood in which they received their early education. 

III. The Authority of Societies, constituted for the ex- 
press purpose of taking cognizance of the Language of the 
country. These have been recognized in Italy and other 
parts of the Continent; they have been only proposed in 
Great Britain. Their inefficacy arises from the inutility of 
attempting to fix that which, like language, is essentially 
fluctuating. 

iV. The Authority of the Written Language. — When a 
language which has existed only in sounds is about to become 
a written language, the object aimed at is to adopt such a sys- 
tem of spelling as shall exactly represent those sounds, and 
the system is regarded as correct or faulty just in proportion 
as it accomplishes this or fails to do it. But after a system 
of orthography is established,' and the language has assumed 
its external form, not only does the orthography accommodate 



144 PRINCIPLES OF ORTHOEPY. 

itself to the pronunciation, but the pronunciation is modified, 
by accommodating itself to the orthography. This is espe- 
cially the fact where the great mass of the people are read- 
ers, and get their pronounciation of many words from books 
by consulting the power of the letters, rather than from con- 
versation. It is believed that in the United States, where 
most of the inhabitants get their pronunciation from books as 
well as from the ear, the spoken language is made to conform 
to the written language more than it does in Great Britain. 

V. Ease of Pronunciation. — Upon this ground the word 
accept' able should be accented on the second syllable rather 
than on the first, according to the notation of Walker. 

VI. Satisfaction to the Ear. — Other things being equal, 
sounds either simple or combined, which are agreeable to the, 
ear, are to be preferred to others. For this reason, if for no 
other, the accent on the second syllable of the word inquiry 
is preferable to the accent on the first. 

For an application of these rules and principles to the cor- 
rect pronunciation of the words in the English language, and 
to the graceful pronunciation of this language in continuous 
discourse.) see Pronouncing Dictionaries, such as Webster's 
and Worcester's, and the current works on Elocution. 

§ 104. For a person on a point of pronunciation to trust 
to his own judgment, he must be capable, with every word 
he doubts about, of discussing three questions. 

I. The Abstract or Theoretical Propriety of a certain Pro- 
nunciation. — To determine this, he must have a sufficient 
knowledge of foreign tongues and a sufficient knowledge of 
English analogies. He must also have some tests by which 
he can determine to what language an equivocal word belongs. 
Of tests for this purpose, one, among others, is the following : 
Let it be asked whether the word lens (in Optics) is English 
or Latin ; whether it is to be considered as a naturalized word 
or a strange one. The following fact will give an answer. 
There is of the word lens a plural number, and this plural 
number is the English from lenses, and not the Latin from 
lentes. The existence of an English Inflection proves that 
the word to which it belongs is English, although its absence 
does not prove the contrary. That the word anemone is En- 



STANDARDS OF PRONUNCIATION. 3^45 

glish (and consequently pronounced anem'one)^ we know from 
the Plural form, which is not anemonce, but anemones. , 

II. The Preference of one Pronunciation over another on 
the score of Utility. — The word ascetic, for certain ortho- 
graphical reasons, notwithstanding its origin from the Greek 
aaKeo, is called assetic. From similar reasons, there is a 
tendency to call the word sceptic, septic. Theoretical pro- 
priety (and, be it observed, the analogy of ascetic has not been 
overlooked) is in favor of the word being sounded skeptic. 
The tendency of language is, however, the other way. Now, 
the tendency of language and the theoretical propriety being 
equal, there is an advantage (a point of utility) in saying 
skeptic, which turns the scale. By sounding the k, we distin- 
guish the word skeptic from septic. By this the language 
gains a point in perspicuity, so that we can talk of the anti- 
skeptic writings of Bishop Warburton, and of the antiseptic 
properties of charcoal. 

III. The Tendencies of Language. — From § 70, we see that 
the combination ew is an Unstable Combination, that it has 
a tendency to become yoo, and that the y in yoo has a ten- 
dency to change a d preceding mio j ; in other words, we see 
the reason why, by many persons, dew i^ pronounced /ei^. 

It is sometimes an easier matter to say how a word will be 
sounded a hundred years hence than to determine its present 
pronunciation. Theoretical propriety is in favor of dew ; so 
also is the view in the way of utility. Notwithstanding this, 
posterity will say jew, for the tendencies of language are para- 
mount to all other influences. 

We may now judge of the relative value of the three lines 
of criticism exhibited above. Other things being equal, the 
language should have the advantage of the doubt, and the 
utility of a given pronunciation should prevail over its theo- 
retical propriety. Where, however, the tendencies are over- 
whelming, we can only choose whether, in doubtful words, 
we shall speak like our ancestors or like our posterity. — 
Latham, p. 153. 

K 



PART III. 

ORTHOGRAPHICAL FORMS IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 



CHAPTER I. 

GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF ORTHOGRAPHY. 

§ 105. Orthography is a term derived from the Greek 
words opdog (upright) and ypa^^ (writing). Orthography pre- 
supposes Orthoepy. Orthography addresses itself to the eye, 
Orthoepy to the ear. Orthoepy deals with the articulate 
Sounds that constitute syllables and words ; Orthography 
treats of the Signs by which such articulate sounds are ex- 
pressed in writing. A Letter is the sign of an Articulate 
Sound. The Letters of the Alphabet are the Elements of 
the Written language employed to express the elements of 
the Spoken language. 

THEORY OF A FULL AND PERFECT ALPHABET AND 
ORTHOGRAPHY. 

§ 106. For a Theory of a full and perfect Alphabet and 
Orthography, the chief conditions are as follows : 

1. That for every Simple Single Sound incapable of being 
represented by a Combination of letters there be a Simple 
Single Sign. 

2. That Sounds within a determinate degree of likeness be 
represented by Signs within a determinate degree of likeness ; 
while sounds beyond a certain degree of likeness be repre- 
sented by distinct and different signs, and that uniformly. 

3. That no Sound have more than One sign to express it. 

4. That no Sign express more than one sound. 

0. That the primary aim of Orthography be to express the 
Sounds of Words, and not their histories. 

6. That changes in Speech be followed by corresponding 
changes in spelling. 

§ 107. With these principles in mind, we are prepared to 
understand the imperfections of our own and other Alphabets. 



ALPHABETS. 



147 



The number of Elementary Sounds in the English lan- 
guage, as exhibited in § 61^ is thirty-four, and that of com- 
pound sounds is six. To express these sounds there are 
twenty-six letters of the Alphabet, which are thus arranged : 



Roman. 


Italic. 


Old EBglish, 


Anglo- 
Saxon. 






Greek. 


A a 


A a 


% 


a 


a 


Xa 


A 


a 




Alpha. 


B b 


B b 


33 


b 


be 


B b 


B 


^ 


6 


Beta. 


C c 


C c 


€ 


t 


ce 


E c 


r 


y 


F 


Gamma. 


D d 


D d 


an 


b 


de 


D b 


A 


(F 




Delta. 


E e 


E e 


€ 


z 


e 


e e 


E 


e 




Epsilon. 


F f 


F f 


J 


f 


ef 


Fp 


Z 


^ 


^ 


Zeta. 


G g 


G g 


'% 





je 


r 3 


H 


^ 




Eta. 


H h 


H h 


« 


•! 


he or 
aitch 


)3 h 








i9 


Theta. 


I i 


I i 


I ; 




i 


I 1 


I 


I 




Iota. 


J J 


J J 
















K k 


K k 


, H 


k 


ka 


K k 


K 


ti 




Kappa. 


L I 


L I 


% 


1 


el 


L 1 


A 


X 




Lambda 


M m 


M m 


M 


ttt 


em 


CDm 


M 


¥' 




Mu. 


N n 


N n 


-^ 


n 


en 


N n 


N 


V 




Nu. 


O 





m 








O 


H 


1 




Xi. 


P p 


P p 


D 


P 


pe 


Pp 










Omicron. 


Q q 


Q q 


^ 


4 


cu 


Qq 


n 


TT 




Pi. 


E r 


R r 


m 


r 


ar 


R p 


p 


P 


P 


Rho. 


S s 


S s 


% 


s 


es 


8 p 


2 


<T 


? 


Sigma. 


T t 


T t 


% 


t 


te 


Tc 


T 


T 




Tau. 


U u 


U u 


m 


n 


u 


Uu 


T 


t? 




Upsilon. 


V V 


V V 




ve 




^ 







Phi. 


W w 


Wiv 


to 


to 


00 


P P 


X 


% 




Chi. 


X X 


X X 


X 


% 


eks. 


Xx 


^ 


1/, 




Psi. 


Y y 


Y y 


% 


2 


wior 


ye.Y y 


fi 


0) 




Omega. 


Z z 


Z z 


n 


? 


ze. 


Z z 











(th) B « p J) 



148 DEFECTS OF THE ENGLISH ALPHABET. 



CHAPTER 11. 

THE DEFECTS OF THE ENGLISH ALPHABET ARE, 

§10,8. I. Its Insufficiency. — 1. In respect to the Vowels. 
Notwithstanding the fact that the sounds of a in father, fate, 
and fat, and of the o and the aw in note, not, and bawl, are 
modifications oi a and o respectively, we have still SixYo^qI 
Sounds specifically distinct, for which (y being as much a 
consonant as a vowel) we have but five signs. The u in 
duck, specifically distinct from u in bull, has no specifically dis- 
tinct sign. 2. In respect to the Consonants. The th in thin, 
the th in thine, the sh in shine, the z in azure, and the ng in 
king, five sounds specifically distinct, and five sounds perfect- 
ly simple, require corresponding signs, which they have not. 

II. Its Inconsistency. — The / in fan, and the v in van, 
sounds in a certain degree of relationship to p and b, are ex- 
pressed by signs as unlike as/ is unlike J5, and as v is unlike 
b. The sounds of th in thin, and oi sh in shine, similarly re- 
lated to t, d, and s, are expressed by signs as like t and s, re- 
spectively, as th and sh. The compound sibilant sound oi j 
in jest is spelled with the simple sign /, while the compound 
sibilant sound in c/i 65^ is spelled with the combination ch. 

III. Its Erroneousness. — The sound of the ee in feet is 
considered the Long (Independent) sound of the e in bed; 
whereas it is the Long (Independent) sound of the i in pit. 
The i in bite is considered as the Long (Independent) sound 
of the i in pit ; whereas it is a diphthongal sound. The u 
in duck is looked upon as a modification of the u in bull ; 
whereas it is a specifically distinct sound. The ou in house 
and the oi in oil are looked upon as the compounds of o and 
i, and of o and u respectively ; whereas the latter element of 
them is not i and u, but y and w. The th in thin and the 
th in thine are dealt with as one and the same sound ; whereas 
they are sounds specifically distinct. The ch in chest is dealt 
with as a modification of c (either with the power of k or of 
s) ; whereas its elements are t and sh. 



ITS REDUNDANCY— ITS UNSTEADINESS. 149 

IV. Its Redundancy. — As far as the representation of 
sounds is concerned, the letter c is superfluous. In words 
like citizen^ it may be replaced by 5 ; in words like cat^ by k. 
In cA, as in chesty it has no proper place. In cA, as in me- 
chanical^ it may be replaced by k. X is superfluous, ks, 
g-z, or z, being its equivalents. Q is superfluous, cia or kw 
being its equivalent. The diphthongal forms ce and (B, as in 
JSneas and Crwsus, except in the way of Etymology, are su- 
perfluous and redundant. 

V. Its Unsteadiness. — Here we have (among many other 
examples), 1. The consonant c with the double power of s and 
k; 2. g" with its sound in gun, and also with its sound as 
in gin ; 3. x, with its sounds in Alexander, apoplexy, Xen- 
ophon. In the foregoing examples a single sign has a double 
power ; in the words Philip and fillip a single sound has a 
double sign. In respect to the degree wherein the English 
Orthography is made subject to Etymology, it is sufficient to 
repeat the statement that the c, ce, and w are retained in the 
alphabet for etymological purposes only. 

§ 109. The Defects noticed in the preceding sections are 
absolute defects, and would exist as they do at present were 
there no language in the world but the English. This is not 
the case with those about to be noticed ; for them, indeed, 
the word defect is somewhat too strong a term. They may 
be more properly termed inconveniences. 

Compared with other languages, the use of many letters in 
the English Alphabet is singular. The letter i (when Long 
or Independent) is generally sounded as ee. With English- 
men it has a diphthongal power. The inconvenience of this 
is the necessity it imposes upon us, in studying foreign lan- 
guages, of unlearning the sound which we give it in our own, 
and of learning the sound which it bears in the language, 
studied. So it is (among many others) with the letter j. In 
English, this has the sound of dzh ; in French, of zh ; and 
in German, of y. From singularity in the use of letters 
arises inconvenience in the study of foreign tongues. In us- 
ing/ as dzh, there is a second objection. It is not only in- 
convenient, but it is theoretically incorrect. The letter j 
was originally a modification of the Vowel i. The Germans, 



150 DEFECTS OF THE ENGLISH ALPHABET. 

who use it as the Semi-vowel y^ have perverted it from its orig- 
inal power less than the English have done, who sound it dzli. 
With these views we may appreciate certain points of the 
English Alphabet and Orthography. 

I. lU Convenience or Inconvenience in respect to learning 
Foreign Tongues. — The sound given to a in fate is singular. 
Other nations sound it as a in father. The sound given to 
the e Long (or Independent) is singular. Other nations sound 
it either as a in fate^ or as e ferme. The sound given to the 
t in bite is singular. Other nations sound it as ee in feet. 
The sound given to the oo in foot is singular. Other na- 
tions sound it as the o in note^ or as the 6 chiuso. Th^j sound 
given to the u in duck is singular. Other nations sound it 
as the u in bull. The sound given to the ou in house is sin- 
gular. Other nations, more correctly, represent it by au or 
aw. The sound given to the w in wet is somewhat singular, 
but is also correct and convenient. With many nations it is 
not found at all, while with those where it occurs it has the 
sound (there or thereabouts) of v. The sound given to y is 
somewhat singular. In Danish it has a Vowel power. The 
sound given to z is not the sound which it has in German 
and Italian ; but its power in English is convenient and cor- 
rect. The sound given to ch in chest is singular. In other 
languages it generally has a guttural sound ; in French , that 
of sh. The English usage is more correct than the French, 
but less correct than the German. The sound given to j (as 
said before) is singular. 

II. The Historical Propriety of certain Letters. — The use 
of i with a diphthongal is not only singular and inconvenient, 
but also historically incorrect. The Greek Iota, from whence 
it originates, has the sound of i and ee, as in pit and feet. 
The y, sounded as in yet, is historically incorrect. It grew 
out of the Greek v, a Vowel, and no Semi-vowel. The Danes 
still use it as such, that is, with the power of the German u. 
The use of y as dzh is historically incorrect. The use of c 
for k, in words derived from the Greek, as, mechanical, ascet- 
ic, &c., is historically incorrect. In remodeling alphabets the 
question of historical propriety should be recognized. Other 
reasons for the use of a particular letter in a particular 



CONVENTIONAL MODES OF SPELLING. l^i 

sense being equal, the historical propriety should decide the 
question. 

ON CERTAIN CONVENTIONAL MODES OF SPELLING. 

§ 110. In the Greek language the sounds of o in not and 
of o in note (although allied) are expressed by the unlike signs 
or letters o and o) respectively. In most other languages the 
difference between the sounds is considered too slight to re- 
quire for its expression signs so distinct and dissimilar. In 
many, hpwever, it is expressed, and that by some modification 
of the original letter. Let the sign " denote that the Vowel 
over which it stands is Long or Independent ; while the sign 
"^ indicates Shortness or Dependence. In such a case, instead 
of writing not and noyt, like the Greeks, we may write not 
and not, the sign serving for a fresh letter. 

The English language abounds in Orthographical expedi- 
ents ; the mode of expressing the Quantity of the Vowels 
being particularly numerous. To begin with these : 

1. The reduplication of a Vowel, where there is but one 
syllable (as in feet, cool), is an orthographical expedient. It 
merely means that the syllable is Long (or Independent). 

2. The juxtaposition of two different vowels, where there 
is but one syllable (as in plain, moan), is an orthographical 
expedient. It generally means the same as the reduplication 
of a Vowel, i. e., that the syllable is Long (Independent). 

3. The addition of the e mute, as in plane, whale (what- 
ever may have been its origin), is at present but an ortho- 
graphical expedient. It denotes the lengthening of the syl- 
lable. 

4. The reduplication of the Consonant after a Vowel, as in 
spotted, torrent, is, in most cases, but an orthographical ex- 
pedient. It merely denotes that the preceding vowel is Short 
(Dependent). 

5. The use of Ph for / in Philip is an orthographical ex- 
pedient, founded upon etymological reasons. 

6. The use of th for the simple sound of the first Conso- 
nant in thin and thine, is an orthographical expedient. The 
combination must be dealt with as a single letter. 

X and Q are not so rriuch orthographical expedients as or- 



152 CLASSIFICATION OF ELEMENTARY SIGNS. 

thographical compendiums. The above instances have been 
adduced as illustrations only.. 

§ 111. The mischief of orthographical expedients is this: 
When a sign or letter is used in a conventional, it precludes 
us from using it (at least without further explanation) in its 
natural sense. Thus the two oo's in mood constitute but 
one syllable. If in a foreign language we had, immediately 
succeeding each other, first the syllable mo, and next the syl- 
lable od, we should have to spell it mo-od, or mood, or mo-bd^ 
&c. Again, it is only by our knowledge of the language 
that the th in nuthook is not pronounced like the th in bur^ 
then. In the language of India, the true sound of t+h is 
common. This, however, we can not spell naturally, because 
the 'combination th conveys to us another notion. Hence 
such combinations as thh, or t\ &c., in writing Hindoo words. 
A second mischief of orthographical conventionalities is the 
wrong notions they engender, the eye misleading the ear. 
That th is t+h, no one would ever have believed but for the 
spelling. 

Elementary sounds, then, in the English language, are exr 
pressed, I. By single appropriate elementary signs, as in tha 
words law and bar the first elementary sound in each is rep-, 
resented by -the letter I or b. 11. By Conventional Expedients. 



CHAPTERIII. 

CLASSIFICATION OF THE ELEMENTARY SIGNS. 

§ 112. Letters are the Signs or representatives of the ele- 
mentary sounds. They are classified by the same names as 
the sounds themselves, viz.. Vowels and Consonants. 

1. It should be constantly borne in mind that the names of 
the letters are not the same as the elementary sounds which 
they represent. Thus the name of the letter m does not en- 
ter as an element into the word man when pronounced, but 
another sound which it represents does. It is true that some 



CLASSIFICATION OF ELEMENTARY SIGNS. ^53 

of the name sounds of the vowei letters are the same as the 
elementary sounds which they represent. Thus the name 
sound of the letter a is the same as the sound which it rep- 
resents in the woxdi fate; but it is not the same as that which 
it represents in all^ father, fat, as may be shown by isolating 
the sound. 

§ 113. The Vowels, that is, the vowel letters, are a, e, t, 
Oy u, and sometimes w and ?/. A, o, u, and w represent the 
broad vowel sounds ; e, ^, and y the small vowel sounds. 

§ 114. The Consonants, that is, the consonant letters, are 
p b, fv, t d, k g-, s z ; h ; /, m, n, r ; 7', c, q, cc, and some- 
times w and 7/. Here we have, first, the representatives of 
the Cognate sounds ; then the Aspirate h ; thirdly, the Liq- 
uids, /, m, n, r ; finally, the double letter j, with the redun- 
dant signs c, q, and x. 

The Consonants, likewise, have been classified according 
to the organs by which they are produced, whether chiefly by 
the lips, the teeth, or the palate. B, p, f, Vy and m have 
been called Labials. D, t, s, z, j, g, when equivalent to j, 
and c when equivalent to s, Dentals. K, g, r, I, q, and c, 
when equivalent to k. Palatals. K and g are sometimes call- 
ed Gutturals. 

S and z are also called Sibilants, from the hissijag noise at- 
tending their production. M and n are also called Nasals, 
from their relation to the nose. L and r are sometimes called 
Linguals. 

§ llo. A Diphthong is two vowel letters joined in one syl- 
lable, as ea in eagle, oi in voice. 

1. A Proper Diphthong is a diphthong in which both of 
the vowels are sounded, as oi in voice. 

2. An Improper Diphthong, or Digraph, is a diphthong in 
which only one of the vowels are sounded, as ea in beat. 

§ 116. A Triphthong, or Trigraph, is three vowel letters 
joined in one syllable, as eau in beau, uoy in buoy. 



154 RELATIONS OF THE LETTERS. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE RELATIONS OF THE LETTERS TO THE ELE- 
MENTARY SOUNDS. 

VOWEL LETTERS. 

A. 

§ 117. A REPRESENTS foui elementary sounds, namely, the 
First, Second, Third, and Fourth. See Table of Elementary 
Sounds, § 61. 

1. The ancient or Italian sound, as in father, which is 
slightly modified in certain combinations, as in pass, dance. 
2. The Short sound, as in mat. This is sometim.es described 
as the short sound of the Italian a. 3. The Long or slender 
Sound, as in fate, which is modified when in combination w^ith 
ihe Liquid r, as in care. 4. The Broad sound, as m fall, 
which is shortened in what. 

The short sound of a in late is represented by e, as in let. 
In the words any, many, and says, a has the short sound usu- 
ally represented by e. In unaccented syllables the sounds 
represented by a are often not distinguishable from the sounds 
represented by some other vowel letters. A final, unaccent- 
ed, has the sound of a in father. 

As in other languages, so in the English, the sound of a 
interchanges with o. In Old English, the forms hond and 
strond occur instead of hand and strand. In Anglo-Saxon, 
brad, stan, correspond to the English forms broad, stone. The 
a in ^alt was pronounced like a in fat, before it was pronounc- 
ed, as at present, like o in not. The„change from ^ to o takes 
place most especially before the /, as ivail, call. When the 
Liquid / is followed by another Consonant, the I is generally 
sunk in the pronunciation, diQ falcon, salmon, pronounced /az^- 
con, sammon. 

A in the German language has but one sound. The in- 
convenience of having so many sounds represented by a single 
letter is partly removed by the use of marks, as in Webster's 
and Worcester's Dictionaries. Each mark serves the purpose 



VOWEL LETTERS. ^^^ 

of an original letter. It can not be expected that these marks 
will generally be adopted in printing. It is not advisable to 
increase the variety of sounds represented by a single letter^ 
as some are inclined to do. 

JE, an Improper Diphthong, is equivalent to long e, as in 
Ccesar, and sometimes to short e, as in ccetera. 

At, an Improper Diphthong, is equivalent to long a, as in 
sail, and sometimes to short e, as in said. 

Au, an Improper Diphthong, is equivalent to broad a^ as in 
cause, and sometimes to the Italian a, as in aunt, and to a 
in gauge. 

Aw, an Improper Diphthong, is equivalent to broad a, as in 
maw. 

Ay, a Proper Diphthong in the word ay, is elsewhere an im- 
proper diphthong, and is equivalent to long a, as in day. 



E represents two elementary sounds, the Fifth and the 
Sixth. 1. The Long sound, as in mete. 2. The Short sound, 
as in met. 

It sometimes is equivalent to long a, as in there, and to 
short e, as in her, and to short i, as in England.. 

Before /, in the final unaccented syllable, it is sometimes 
mute, as in shekel, pronounced shekH, and sometimes sounded 
as in chapel. Before n, in the final unaccented syllable, it 
is sometimes mute, as in heaven, pronounced heav''n, and 
sometimes sounded, as in kitchen. In unaccented syllables, 
e has sometimes the sound oi u, as in suffer, and sometimes 
the sound of e is suppressed, as in words like cherries, mar- 
ried, pronounced cherris, marrid. 

The long sound of e is strictly the long sound of i in pit, 
and the short sound of e is strictly the short sound of a in late. 

The e mute, in words like cone, robe, serves to denote the 
length of the preceding vowel. For this purpose it is re- 
tained, but it was not for this purpose that it was invented. 
Originally it expressed a sound; and it is only by a change 
of language that it has come, as it were by accident, to be 
an orthographical expedient. E is always mute at the end 
of words, except monosyllables, which have no other vowels ; 



156 RELATIONS OF THE LETTERS. 

as, the^ me ; and proper names ; as, Phebe. It does not always 
lengthen the foregoing vowel, as in live^ give. 

Ea^ an Improper Diphthong, is equivalent to long e, as 
in tea; to short e, as in head; to long a, as in break ; to the 
Italian a^ as in heart. 

Ee^ an Improper Diphthong, is equivalent to long e, as in 
eel. 

Ei, an Improper Diphthong, is equivalent to long a, as in 
veil; to long e, as in deceit ; to long z, as in height ; and to 
short e, as in heifer. 

Eo, an Improper Diphthong, is equivalent to long e, as in 
people ; to short e, as in leopard; to long o in yeoman ; and 
to short in George. 

Eu and e?^; have the diphthongal sound of u, as in feud, 
deiv. In sez^, shew^ and streiv, ew sounds like long o. 

Ey is equivalent to long «, as in prey., to long e in key, 
and to long i in Zez/. ^^e is equivalent to i. 

Eau has the sound of long o, as in beau ; in beauty, and 
its compounds, it has the sound of long u. 

L 

I represents two sounds : 1. The Diphthongal, sometimes 
called the Long sound, as in fine. See § 64. 2. The Sev- 
enth elementary sound, called the short sound, as in pit. 
The latter is strictly the Short sound of long e. Before r it 
is equivalent to short u, as m first. It sometimes is equiva- 
lent to long e, as in machine. 

. J, unaccented, readily blends with the succeeding vowel, 
as in motion, physician, concession. 

le, an Improper Diphthong, is equivalent to long i, as in 
die, to long e, as in grief and to short e, as in friend. In 
terminations, like twentieth, in fiery, in Orient, the vowels 
should be separated in pronunciation ; also in variegate. 

leu and iew, Triphthongs, have the sound of long u, as in 
lieu, review. 

o. 
O represents two elementary sounds, namely, the Eighth 
and the Ninth : 1. The Long, as in note. 2. The Short, as 
in not. 



. VOWEL LETTERS. J^57 

It sometimes is equivalent to oo, as in prove^ and to u 
short, as in love^ and to broad a, as in lord, and to short i 
in ivomen, and to the u in /«^^Z, as in wolf. 

Oa, an Improper Diphthong, is sometimes equivalent to 
long o, as in coal, or to broad a, as in broad. 

Oe, an Improper Diphthong, is equivalent sometimes to 
long 0, as in foe, or to oo, as in canoe, or to long e, as in 
foetus. 

Oi is a Proper Diphthong. See § 64. 

Ou is a Proper Diphthong. See § 64. It is also equiva- 
lent to short u, as in enough ; to oo, as in soup ; to long o, 
as in though; to short o, as in cough; to broad a^, as in 
ought. 

Ow is sounded like ou, and o?/ like oi. 

u. 

i!7 represents three sounds : 1. The Long or diphthongal, as 
in mule. 2. The Tenth elementary sound, as in bull, 3. The 
Twelfth elementary sound, as in but. 

It is also equivalent to short i in busi/, and to short e in 
burT/. 

TJa, an Improper Diphthong, is equivalent to the Italian 
a, as in guard ; to short a, as in guarantee ; to long a, or 
wa, in persuade. 

Ue is equivalent to long u, as in blue; to short e, as in 
guest; is silent, as in league. 

Ui, an Improper Diphthong, has the sound of long i, as in 
guide ; of short i, as in conduit ; of long «^, as in juice. 

Uy, din Improper Diphthong, is equivalent to long i, as in 
buy. 

V . - . W. ' 

W, from being partly a vowel and partly a consonant in 
its use, may be called a Semi-vowel. It has nearly the sound 
of 00, and represents the Thirteenth elementary sound, as in 
wet. W before h is pronounced as if it were after the h ; as, 
what, hwat. It takes its written form from the union of two 
^'s, this being the form of the Roman capital letter which we 
call V. With o and e it forms diphthongs, as in now, new. 
It has often the same sound as u, as in drew. It is some- 



158 RELATIONS OF THE LETTERS. 

times silent, as in ivrite^ whole. W is often joined to o at 
the end of a syllable without affecting the sound, as in grow. 
In Welsh it is sometimes used in a syllable without another 
vowel ; as, fwl =fooL 

^• 

Y, from being partly a vowel and partly a consonant, may 
be called a Semi-vowel. It represents the Fourteenth ele- 
mentary sound, as in yet. It is equivalent to u, as in youth ; 
to 2, as in my and crystal ; and to short u^ as myrrh. It 
often has replaced the Anglo-Saxon g-, as in year for gear. 

CONSONANT LETTERS. 

B. 
§ 118. B represents the Twenty-second elementary sound, 
as in hag. The h in debtor^ subtle^ agrees with the b in 
lamb, dumb^ thumbs in being mute. It differs, however, in 
another respect, that, while the words debtor^ subtle^ are of 
classical, the words lamb^ dumb^ &c., are of Saxon origin. Iii 
debtor^ &c., the h was undoubtedly at one time pronounced, 
debitor^ subtilis^ being the original forms. It is not proba- 
ble that with the other words, lamb, &c., this was the case. 
The probability is, that b in speech never made a part of the 
word at all; that it belongs now, and that it always belonged 
to the written language only; and that it was inserted in the 
spelling upon what may be called the Principle of Imitation, 
as in the case of / in could. See Could, § 310. 

c, 
C is equivalent, 1. To A: when before a, o, u, I, r, t ; as 
in can, come, cub, clap, crop, act, and where it ends a sylla- 
ble, diB public. 2. To s before c, i, and?/; as, center, city, cym- 
bal. Ce and ci, followed by another vowel, often blend into 
the sound of sh, as in ocean, social. G is mute in czar, 
victuals, indict, Connecticut. C, in some words, takes the 
sound of z, as in suffice. C might be omitted in the language 
without loss, since one of its sounds might be supplied by k, 
and the other by s ; but that it preserves to the eye the Ety- 
mology of such words as face from fades, captive from cap- 
tives. That the syllables cit^ cyt^ cet were at one time pro- 



1 



CONSONANT LETTERS. 



159 



nounced kit^ kyt, ket, there is evidence: 1. From the circum- 
stance that, if it were not so, they would have been spelled 
with an s. 2. From the comparison of the Greek and Latin 
Languages, where the words cete, circus^ cystis^ Latin, are 
KTiTTi, KLpKog, KvoTLg. Whcn c comes after the accent, and is 
followed by ea, ia^ ie^ io^ or ious^ it takes the sound of sh, as 
in ocean, &c. 

Ch represents, 1. The Compound sound of tsh, as in church, 
2. The sound of A; in chorus. 3. The sound of 5/i, as in ma- 
chine. It is sometimes silent, as in drachm. 

D represents the Twenty-eighth elementary sound, as in 
did. When -ed is preceded by a Surd consonant and the e 
is mute, d represents the sound of t, as in cracked, stuffed^ 
pronounced cracA:^, stufft. 

F represents the Twenty-third elementary sound, as in 
fan. In of it has the sound of v. 

G. 

G represents the Thirteenth elementary sound, when before 
a, o, tt,l, and r ; as in gap, gone, gun, glory, grace. Be- 
fore e, i, and y, it generally represents the sound oij; as in 
Genius ; except in get, give, gewgaw, finger, and syllables 
added to words ending in g ; as, fog, foggy. At the end of 
a word it has its elementary sound, as in Agog. It should 
be remembered, however, that ng is not n+g, but represents 
a single elementary sound, namely, the Sixteenth. 

In hedge and oblige the e mute shows that the g is to be 
pronounced as/. U, on the other hand, is inserted after g 
and before e in prorogue, in order to show that g has its ele- 
mentary sound. 

G is mute before m or w in the same syllable, ^s in phlegm, 
gnaw. 

Gh at the beginning of a word has the sound of g hard, 
as in ghost ; in other situations it is generally mute, as in 
high. It sometimes is equivalent to /, as in laugh; and 
sometimes to k, as in hough ; and sometimes to g hard, as 



160 RELATIONS OF THE LETTERS. 

ill burgh. Ough is sometimes equivalent to ow, as in 
plough ; and to oo^ as in through. The original sound of 
gh was a hard guttural, as is at present the case in Scotland, 
and between g*, h, /, v, and w there are frequent interchan- 
ges. This will explain the variety of sounds. 

H. 

jH" represents the Fifteenth elementary sound, as in hot. It 
is sometimes mute in the beginning of words, as in honest. 

J. 
J represents a compound sound, and is equivalent to dzh^ 
as in jest. In Hallelujah it has the sound of the German 
y. It never occurs in words of Saxon origin. 

K. 

K represents the Twenty-ninth elementary sound, as in 
kind. It never comes before a, o, or w. It is used before 
e, ^, and J/, when c, according to the English analogy, would 
be liable to be sounded as 5, as in kept^ king, skirt. These 
words, if written cept, cing, scirt, would run the risk of being 
sounded sept, sing, sirt. Broadly speaking, k is never used 
except when c would be inconvenient. The reason of this 
lies in the fact of there being no such letter as k in the Latin 
language. Hence arose, in the eyes of the Etymologist, the 
propriety, in all words derived from the Latin, as croivn, 
concave, &c., of using the letter c to the exclusion of k. Be- 
sides this, the Anglo-Saxon alphabet, being taken from the 
Roman, excluded k, so that c was written even before the 
small vowels, a, e, i, y ; as, cyning or cining= a king. (7, 
then, supplanted k upon Etymological grounds only. K be- 
fore n is mute, as in knife. This, however, was not the 
case in the allied languages. In German and Danish, in 
words like knecht, knife, the k was sounded. This teaches 
that such was once the case in English. Hence we learn 
that in the words knife, knight, and also in gnaiv, gnasli^ 
we have an antiquated or obsolete orthography. 

L. 
L represents the Nineteenth elementary sound. Le at the 
end of words is sounded like e/, as in table. For the ejec^ 



CONSONANT LETTERS. 



161 



tion of I in calf and salmon^ see under A. L is mute be- 
tween a and k in the same syllable, as in balk. For the 
I in could, see that word. In the Anglo-Saxon, I is some- 
times preceded by A, and aspirated, as in hlaf, loaf. Ben 
Jonson says that ^'7 melteth in the sounding, and is there- 
fore called a liquid." 

M. 
itf represents the Seventeenth elementary sound, as in man. 

N. 

N represents the Eighteenth elementary sound, as in not. 
N is mute when preceded by m or /, as in hymn, kiln. In 
such words the n originally belonged to the succeeding syl- 
lable ; as, hymnus, cylene. 

Ng represents the Sixteenth elementary sound, as in king. 

P. 

P represents the Twenty-first elementary sound, as in 
pate. It has the sound of b in cupboard. It is sometimes 
mute at the beginning of words before s and t, as in psalm^ 
ptisan. It is mute in the middle of words between m and t^ 
as in empty. 

Ph usually has the sound of /, as in philosophy. In 
Stephen it has the sound of v: In apophthegm ph is silent. 

Q. 

Q, accurately speaking, is neither a letter nor an abbrevi- 
ation. It is always followed by u, as in queen, and the two 
letters qu must be looked upon as a single sign equivalent 
to, but scarcely an abbreviation of, kiv. In some words of 
French origin, the u is mute ; as, coquet. 

R. 
R represents the Twentieth elementary sound, as in run. 
The vocal sound of this letter, uniting with a preceding vowel 
sound, modifies it, as in dare, her, bird, for, syrtis. The 
sound of r has a tendency to transposition, as in apron, iron, 
pronounced sometimes as if written apurn, turn. 

■ " s. 

S represents the Thirty-first elementary sound, as in sin, 

L 



162 RELATIONS OF THE LETTERS. 

It also has the sound of z in zeal^ as in besom ; and also the 
sound of s/i, as in sure ; and also the sound of zh^ as in pleas- 
ure. It is sometimes silent, as in island. 

When a word ends in a Flat Consonant, h^ v, d, g, the 
Plural termination is not the sound of s, but that of z (stagz, 
dogz), although s be the letter written. Such, also, is the 
case with words ending in the Vowels or the Liquids Ipeaz^ 
beanz, hillz, not peace, beanceyhillce). This fact influences 
our Orthography. The majority of words ending in s are 
found to be Plural Numbers, or else (what is the same thing 
in respect to form) either Genitive Cases, or Verbs of the 
Third Person Singular ; while in the majority of these the 
s is sounded as z. Hence the inference, from analogy, that 
s single, at the end of words, is sounded as z. Now this 
fact hampers the Orthography of those words wherein s final 
retains its natural sound; as, since, once, mass, mace; for let 
these be written sins, ons, mas, the chances are that they 
will be pronounced sinz, onz, maz. To remedy this, the s 
may be doubled, as in mass. This, however, can be done but 
in few cases only. It can not be done conveniently where the 
Vowel is long, the effect of a double Consonant being to de- 
note that the preceding Vowel is short. Neither can it be 
done conveniently after a Consonant, such combinations as 
sinns, &c., being unsightly. This throws the Grammarian 
upon the use of c, which, as stated above, has, in certain sit- 
uations, the power of s. To write, however, simply si7ic, or 
one, would induce the risk of the words being sounded sink, 
onk. To obviate this, e is added, which has the double effect 
of not requiring to be sounded (being mute), and of showing 
that the c has the sound of s (being small). 
■ It is the peculiar quality of s that it may be sounded before 
all Consonants, except x and z, in which s is comprised, x being 
only ks, and z only a hard (flat) or gross s. This s is, therefore, 
termed by Grammarians suce potestatis liter a, '' the reason 
of which the learned Dr. Clarke erroneously supposed to be 
that in some words it might be doubled at pleasure." — John- 
son. A reference to the current Greek Grammars will indi- 
cate another reason for g being called suce potestatis litera. 
It will there be seen that, while 77, /3, — k, y, % — ~j ^j <9? are 



EQUIVALENT LETTERS. IQ^ 

grouped together as Tenues, Medice, and Aspiratce, and as 
■inter se cognatce, a stands by itself ; ^, its Media (flat sound) 
being treated as a double letter, and sh, its so-called Aspirate, 
being non-existent in the Greek language. 

T. 

T represents the Twenty-seventh elementary sound, as in 
take. 

Th represents the Twenty-fifth elementary sound, as in 
thin; and the Twenty-sixth, as in thine. In the Substan-^ 
tives, breath, cloth, the th is sharp or surd; that is, like th 
in thin. In the verbs breathe, clothe, the th is flat, or so- 
nant ; that is, like th in thine. 

Th between two vowels, and between r and a vowel, is 
flat (sonant) ; as, father, burthen. 

Th, in certain words, like Thomas, is pronounced like t. 

V. 
V represents the Twenty-fourth elementary sound, as in 
van. 

X. 

X' represents, 1. The sound of ks, as in exercise. 2. The 
sound of gz, as in exert. 3. The sound of z, as in Xenophon. 

Z. 
Z represents the Thirty-second elementary sound, as in 
zeal ; and the Thirty-fourth elementary sound, as in azure. 
The name of this letter is zee,izzard, or zed from the French. 

EQUIVALENT LETTERS. 

§ 119. Instead of the Letters which represent some of the 
elementary sounds, as arranged in the Table, § 61, other let- 
ters, in certain circumstances, are their Equivalents in rep- 
resenting the same sounds. 

1. The letters equivalent to a 'm. father are ea, au, ah; 
as in heart, aunt, ah. 

2. The letters equivalent to a in fat are ua, all, ai, i ; as 
in guarantee, shall, plaid, sirrah. 

3. The letters equivalent to a in fate are ai^ ao, ay, e, 



164 RELATIONS OF THE LETTERS. 

ea, ey^ au ; as in jpain^ gaol, day, there, great, reign, they, 
gauge. 

4. The letters equivalent to a in fall are au, aw, awe, o, 
oa, ou ; as in caul, awful, awe, nor, broad, ought. 

5. The letters equivalent to e in mete are ce, ea, ee, ei, eo, 
ey, ie, i, oe, oi ; as in Ccesar, seat, deer, deceit, people, key, 
field, machine, antodci, turkois. 

6. The letters equivalent to e in met are ai, ae, ea, ei, ie, 
OB, a, u, eo ; as in again, Dcedahis, head, heifer, friend, fatid, 
any, bury, leopard. 

7. The letters equivalent to i in fit are ai, e, ee, ei, ia, ie, 
oi, o, ui, u, cy ; as in captain, yes, breeches, surfeit, car- 
riage, sieve, tortoise, women, guilt, busy, cyst. 

- 8. The letters equivalent to o in note are au, eau, eo, ew, 
oa, oe, 00, ou, ow ; as in hautboy, beau, yeoman, sew, groan, 
foe, floor, mould, show. 

9. The letters equivalent to o in not are a, eo, ou ; as in 
what, George, cough. 

10. The letters equivalent to u in bull are oo, o, ou ; as 
in wool, wolf, would. 

11. The letters equivalent to oo mfool are o, oe, ou, wo; 
as in move, shoe, tour, two. 

12. The letters equivalent to u in but are e, ea, i, o, oo, 
ou ; as in her, earth, sir, won, food, rough. 

13. The letters equivalent to i inpine are ai, ei, eye, ie, oi, 
ui, wy, ye ; as in aisle, height, eye, die, choir, guide, why, 
rye. 

14. The letters equivalent to u in rude are eau, eu, ew, 
ewe, ieu, iew, ue, ou ; as in beauty, feud, new, ewe, adieu, 
view, true, you. 

An equivalent of oi in voice is oy ; as in boy. An equiv- 
alent of ou in house is ow ; as in now. 



PillNCIPLES OF ORTHOGRAPHY. IQ^ 



CHAPTEE V. 

APPLICATION OF THE PRINCIPLES OF ORTHOGRAPHY. 

§ 120. In settling a point in Orthography, one must be 
qualified to take into consideration the various facts upon 
which a correct decision can be founded. 

I. Ancient use and Present use ; General use and Local 
use ; Divided use and Good use. 

II. The Normal use of the letters in representing the ele- 
mentary sounds in the language ; and, also, the Anomalous 
use in representing the same sounds. What the normal use 
of the letters is, may be seen from the Table of Elementary 
Sounds, § 61. What is the anomalous use, may be seen 
from § 118 5n equivalent letters. The sound of a in ap is 
normal ; it is, the Secoud elementary sound, represented by the 
letter a in its normal use. The sound of a in ani/ is anom- 
alous ; it is the Seventh elementary sound in the table nor- 
mally represented by e, and anomalously represented by a. 
Other things being equal, the normal use of the letters should, 
in orthography, be preferred to their anomalous use. 

III. The advantages or the disadvantages of leaving off 
Silent or Useless letters. In honour and favour, «^ is a use- 
less letter so far as sound is concerned. The u signifies that 
the words came to us through the French. Without the u, 
the words stand just as they were originally spelled in the 
Latin. So that the question is, whether we shall be at the 
trouble of retaining a letter that is useless as to sound, for 
the sake of the historical association, when the real origin of 
the words are to be sought in the Latin. 

IV. Etymological facts and reasons. The question may 
arise whether Rane-deer or Rein-deer is the true spelling. In 
favor of the first, it can be said that rane is the normal rep- 
resentative of the sound in the spoken language, whereas 
rein is an anomalous representative of that sound, and the 
ei might by a foreigner be confounded or identified with the 
ei in deceit and in either. The word is derived from the 



166 PRINCIPLES OF ORTHOGRAPHY. 

Saxon hrana^ or hranas. Its etymology thus settles it^ true 
spelling. 

V. The Analogies of the English language. The ques- 
tion may arise whether, upon the addition of the formative er 
to the word travel, the / should be doubled ; in other v/ords, 
whether traveler or traveller is the correct spelling. It is a 
remark in the Cambridge Philological Museum, "that there 
is something extremely unpleasant in such a mass of letters 
as one finds accumulated in travelled^ in an unaccented syl- 
lable." What, however, seems to settle the correct orthog- 
raphy of the word is the Analogy of the language. It is a 
rule in the English language, " that verbs ending in a single 
consonant, but having the accent on the syllable preceding 
the last, ought not to double the final consonant." Accord- 
ing, then, to the analogy of the language, er should be add- 
ed, and nothing more. See § 129. 

VI. The analogies of kindred languages. The natural aim 
of Orthography, of spelling, of writing, is to express the 
sounds of a language. Syllables and words it takes as they 
meet the ear from the lips, and translates them by appro- 
priate signs on the page, thus painting them, as it were, to 
the eye. But beyond this primary object there is, with the 
orthographical systems of many languages, a secondary one, 
namely, the attempt to combine with the representation of 
a given word the representation of its history and origin. 
The sound of c in city is the sound that we naturally spell 
with the letter s ; and if the expression of this sound were 
the only object of orthographists, the word would be spelled, 
accordingly, sity. The following facts traverse this simple 
view of the matter. The word is a derived word ; it is 
transplanted into our language fr'^m the Latin, where it is 
spelled with a c (civitas), and to change this c into s conceals 
the origin and history of the word. In cases like this Or- 
thography is bent to a secondary end, and is traversed by the 
Etymology. 

Moreover, modes of spelling which at one time were cor- 
rect, may, by a change of pronunciation, become incorrect, 
so that the Orthography becomes Obsolete whenever there 
takes place a change of speech without a corresponding 



PRINCIPLES OF ORTHOGRAPHY. ^57 

change of spelling. If the letter y^ in the first syllable of the 
word Chymistry, represented the vowel sound generally given 
in pronunciation to that word at the time Johnson wrote his 
Dictionary, then he accomplished the true end of orthogra- 
phy by spelling it as it was pronounced ; but if afterward 
there was a general change in the pronunciation of the word, 
so that the letter y no longer represented the sound heard in 
that syllable, then, on that ground, the change ought to be 
made from y to e, if the letter e represents that sound ; but 
if the letter e does not represent the sound heard in speaking 
so well as y^ or its equivalent, /, then y or i should be em- 
ployed to represent that sound. If, in addition, the Etymol- 
ogy of the word, derived from the Arabic Kimia^ points to z, 
if the Analogy of some other languages points the same way, 
the French spelling it Chimie, the Spanish Chimia, the Ital- 
ians Chimica, there is strong reason for spelling it either 
with i or y in the first syllable. This statement is brought 
forward not for the purpose of showing the true spelling of 
the word, about which nothing is asserted except condition- 
ally, but for the sake of showing what kind of reasoning can 
be adopted by an Orthographist in settling the spelling of a 
word. 

Between the two forms highth and height good use is 
perhaps divided, the first having the authority of Milton and 
some eminent modern writers, like Walter Savage Landor. 
This form can be defended not so much on the ground of 
throwing out the useless letter e, as on that of its being in 
analogy with high^ from which it is derived. Between the 
tv/o forms public and piiblick^ use has been divided. The 
arguments in favor of the first form is, that it is free from a 
useless letter ; that it better agrees with its etymology, de- 
rived as it is from the Latin word publicus^ which has no k 
in it ; that it is in analogy with its derivatives, publicly^ pub- 
lication. The argument in favor of the k is, that c has no 
determinate sound, being equivalent either at one time to s 
and at another time to k, and should, therefore, never end a 
word, since the next word may begin either with a broad 
vowel or a small vowel. 

These instances are brought forward not for the purpose 



1(38 PRINCIPLES OF ORTHOGRAPHY. 

of deciding any doubtful questions in Orthography, but only 
to exhibit the considerations which the Orthographist must 
take into view in order to come to a correct decision. 

CAUSES OF THE DIVERSITY IN ORTHOGRAPHY. 

§ 121. The diversities in Orthography which have existed 
in the Anglo-Saxon first, and then in the English Language, 
may be dated back, I. To the original dialectic differences in 
the Saxons, the Angles, and the Jutes ; II. To there being 
for a period eight Saxon Kingdoms, each of which, in an age 
when there was no printing, might originate some peculiari- 
ties of dialect ; III. To the partial introduction of Scandina- 
vian terms from Norway, Sweden, and Denmark; IV. To 
the influence of the Norman Conquest ; V. To the Writers 
of the period of Queen Elizabeth, some of whom attached 
but little consequence to orthography. Shakspeare's name 
is spelled in at least two different ways in his will. 

In the Anglo-Saxon, a single word was sometimes spelled 
in as many as fifteen or twenty different ways. And more 
than one word can be found in the present English, which 
are spelled by different authors in ten or twelve different ways. 
Though Jotmson in his Dictionary was thought to have set- 
tled the '' external form" of the language, there still remain 
what he calls '^ spots of barbarity," which the Orthographist 
may endeavor to remove. Diversities still exist, and ques- 
tions not unfrequently arise which can be settled only by an 
appeal to the true principles of orthography. 

For instance, the celebrated William Cobbett proposed, by 
a summary process, to give up the forms of the preterites of 
the irregular verbs, and substitute for them the forms in ed, 
thus making the verbs regular ; as, arised for arose, abided 
for abode. This would be a sweeping change in our Orthog- 
raphy. On the other hand, with more reason, that distin- 
guished scholar. Archdeacon Hare, proposed that, following 
the example of Spenser and Milton, we should return to 
those forms in spelling the preterites which express their 
sounds in pronunciation ; as, stept for stepped; cald for call- 
ed; exprest for expressed. Thus Spenser uses the orthog- 
raphy which makes the letters conform to the sound, lookt, 



DIVERSITY IN ORTHOGRAPHY. IQQ 

pluckt, nurst, Mst ; so did Milton ; as, hurld, tvorshipt^ con- 
fest. In confirmation he quotes the authority of Grimm : 
<'In case the e is omitted in the preterite, the (i becomes t 
after /, m, n, p, k, f (from v), gh (from k and cA), and s ; 
as, dealt^ dreamt, learnt, crept, crackt, reft, sought, kistJ^ 
Whether these proposed changes would be improvements or 
not, there is in the nature of the case no reason why changes 
should not be urged, or withstood, on correct principles. 

§ 122. Complaints have often been made that our lan- 
guage is harsh and coarse in its phonology, owing to the ac- 
cumulation of consonant, and the deficiency of vowel sounds, 
especially in the termination of words. Thus, Lord Byron 
compliments the Italian in comparison with our own : 

" I love the language, that soft bastard Latin, 
Which melts like kisses from a female mouth, 
And sounds as if it should be writ on satin 

With syllables that 5rea.^Ae of the swjcef South, 
And gentle liquids gliding all so pat in 

That not a single accent seems uncouth, 
Like our harsh Northern, whistling, grunting guttural, 
Which we are obliged to hiss, and spit, and sputter all." 

Beppo, stanza xliv. 

To remedy this alleged defect, Pinkerton, under the as- 
sumed name of Eobert Heron, declares that our language 
wants 8000 vowel terminations in comparison with the 
Greek. Here is a specimen of the manner in which he would 
supply them: "When I waz ato Grand Cairo, I picked up 
several Orientala manuscripta, whica I have' still by me. 
Among othera, I met with one' intitulen Thea Viziona of 
Mirza, whica I have read ove' with great pleasure'. I intend 
to give' ito to the publico, when I have' no other entertain- 
menta fo them, ando shall begin vs^ith the first, whica I have' 
translaten wordo fo wordo az followeth.^' The final s in 
all plurals is turned into a. E is to be given to all sub- 
stantives in y ; as, beaute', bounte', and to be pronounced in 
finals ; as, fame', grace'. I is to be given to all adjectives 
in y; as, healthi, weari. O is given to all substantives end- 
ing in harsh consonants ; as, eggo, capo, facto. For a more 
full account of this absurd and impracticable scheme, see 
Cambridge Philological Museum, page 649, vol. i. While 



170 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF ENGLISH ALPHABET 

changes like these are impossible, and are to be deprecated 
if they were possible, still, changes are to be expected in the 
orthographical forms of the language of a nation, just as there 
are in the ideas which are expressed by that language. 
These changes should not be left to be settled by chance or 
hj caprice, but by the judicious application of the principles 
of Orthography. 



CHAPTER VI. 

HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE ENGLISH ALPHABET. 

§ 123. The first Chapter exhibited the Theory of a full 
and perfect Alphabet ; the second showed how far the En- 
glish Alphabet falls short of such a standard ; the third ex- 
hibited the various conventional modes of spelling which the 
insufficiency of Alphabets has engendered. The present 
Chapter gives a history of our Alphabet, whereby many of 
its defects are accounted for. The^e defects, it may be said, 
once for all, the English Alphabet shares with those of the 
rest of the world, although, with the doubtful exception of the 
French, it possesses them in a higher degree than any. 

"With few, if any, exceptions, all the modes of writing in 
the world originate, directly or indirectly, from the Phoeni- 
cian, Plebrew, or Shemitic alphabet. This is easily accounted 
for, when we call to mind, 1, The fact that the Greek, the 
Latin, and the Arabian alphabets are all founded upon this ; 
and, 2. The great influence of the nations speaking those 
three languages. The present sketch, however, is given only 
for the sake of accounting for defects. "■ Literas semper ar- 
bitror Assyrios fuisse ; sed alii ^Egyptios, alii apud Syros re- 
pertas volunt. Utique in Grssciam intulisse e Phoenice Cad- 
mum." — Pliny, vii., 5Q. The sixteen letters which Cadmus 
carried into Greece were not his own, but Eastern characters. 
Instead of inventing Alphabetic writing, he deserves no more 
credit than does the mariner or the missionary who carries 
our letters to a distant shore. 

The stages of progress appear to have been, I. Speech, or 



PHCENICIAN, HEBREAV, OR SHEMITIC PERIOD. 171 

Oral communication. II. Picture writing. By this mode 
of communication it is said that the ancient Mexicans trans- 
,mitted the memory of the most important transactions of 
their empire. III. Hieroglyphics. These, like pictures, are 
the signs of things. Ingratitude was indicated by a viper, 
Wisdom by an ant. A serpent with a hawk's head denoted 
Nature, and God presiding over it. IV. Syllabic characters, 
or an Alphabet of the Syllables in the language. This, in 
convenience, is a great advance upon the other modes of com- 
munication, inasmuch as signs of words were used, and not 
signs of things. V. Letters representing the Sounds in the 
language. These are called the Alphabet, from Alpha^ Beta^ 
the names of the first two letters in the list. 

PHCENICIAN, HEBREW, OR SHEMITIC PERIOD. 

§ 124. At a certain period the alphabet of Palestine, Phoe- 
nicia, and the neighboring languages of the Shemitic tribes? 
consisted of twenty -two separate and distinct letters. The 
chances are that, let a language possess as few elementary ar- 
ticulate sounds as possible, an alphabet of only twenty-two 
letters v/ill be insufficient. Now, in the particular case of the 
languages in point, the number of elementary sounds, as we 
infer from the present Arabic, was above the average. It may 
vbe safely asserted that the original Shemitic alphabet was in- 
sufficient for even the Shemitic languages. 

In this state it was imported into Greece. Now, as it 
rarely happens that any two languages have precisely the 
same elementary articulate sounds, so it rarely happens that 
an alphabet can be transplanted from one tongue to another* 
and be found at once to coincide. The Greeks had, in prob- 
ability, sounds which were wanting in Palestine and Phoe- 
nicia. In Palestine and Phoenicia it is certain that there 
were sounds wanting in Greece. The resemblance in the 
shape of the letters is seen rather in the ancient forms than 
the modern. Of the twenty-two Phoenician letters, the 
Greeks took out twenty-one. The eighteenth letter, Tsaddi, 
li, was never imported into Europe. Besides rejecting this 
letter, they changed the manner of writing, beginning at the 
left and going toward the right ; and invented new signs or 



172 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF ENGLISH ALPHABET. 

letters for such simple, single, elementary, articulate sounds 
as were not represented. The new signs 0, x^ ^> <*^j were not 
mere modifications of the old ones, but new, distinct, and in- 
dependent letters. In all this there was an improvement. 
The faults of the newer Greek alphabet consisted in the ad.- 
mission of the compendium i/> =^5, and the retention of the 
compendium Z=ks. 

THE ITALIAN, OR OLD LATIN PERIOD. 

§ 125. The existence of/ and q shows that the Italian al- 
phabets were imported from the original Phoenician, or the 
old Greek ; these letters, in the second stage of the Greek 
alphabet, having been ejected. The first alphabet imported 
into Italy was the Etruscan, in which the sharp sounds pre- 
dominate, and B, A, O were ejected. This prepares us for a 
change, the effects whereof exist in almost all the alphabets 
of Europe. 

The Roman Alphabet had a double origin. For the first 
two centuries after the foundation of the city the alphabet 
used was the Etruscan, derived directly from the Greek and 
the Old Greek. This accounts for the presence of / and q. 
Afterward, however, the Romans modified their alphabet by 
the- alphabet of the Italian Greeks, these Italian Greeks using 
the late Greek alphabet. This accounts for the presence of 
Vj originating in the Greek Ypsilon. 

In accommodating the Greek alphabet to their own lan- 
guage, the Latins recognized the following principles : 

I. The ejection of such letters as were not wanted. Thus 
it was that the seventh letter (Zayn^ Zasta) was thrown out 
of the alphabet, and the new letter g" put in its place. Sub- 
sequently, z was restored, for the sake of spelling Greek 
words, but was placed at the end of the alphabet. Thus, 
also, it was that Thceta, Kappa (c being equivalent to A:), 
and the fifteenth letter, were ejected, while ip and X were 
never admitted. In after times the fifteenth letter (now xi) 
was restored, for the same reason that z was restored, and, 
like z, was placed at the end of the alphabet. 

II. The use of the imported letters with a new power. 
Hence the sixth letter took the sound not of v or w, but of 



THE MCESO-GOTHIC ALPHABET. ^73 

/; and the eighth, of A. Beyond this the Romans made 
but slight alterations. In ejecting Kappa^ Thcdta, and Chi, 
they did mischief ; the same in changing the power of c. 
The representation of hj ph, of 6 by th, v/as highly errone- 
ous. The retention of x and g- was unnecessary. Fandj, 
two letters whereby the alphabet was really enriched, were 
mere modifications of u and i respectively. , Y also seems a 
modification of v. Neither the Latin, Greek, nor Hebrew 
Orthographies were much warped to etymological purposes. 
It should be observed that, in the Latin, the letters have 
no longer any Names (like Beth, Bosta), except such as are 
derived from their powers (be, ce). It may now be seen that, 
with a language containing such sounds as the th in thin and 
thine, and the ch in the German auch, it is to their advant- 
age to derive their alphabet from the Greek, while, with a 
language containing such sounds as h and v, it is to their ad- 
vantage to derive it from the Latin. It may also be seen 
that, without due alterations and additions, the alphabet of 
.one country will not serve as the alphabet of another. 

THE M(ES0-G0THIC ALPHABET. 

§ 126. In the third century the Classical Alphabets were 
applied to a Gothic Language. I use the word Alphabets, 
because the Moeso- Gothic Letters are borrowed from both the 
Latin and the Greek. Their form and order may be seen in 
Hickes' Thesaurus and in Lye's Grammar. With the Greek 
they agree in the following particulars : 1 . In the sound of 
the third letter being not that of k {c\, but of the g in gun. 
2. In retaining Kappa and Chi. 3. In expressing the sim- 
ple single sound of th by a simple single sign. This sign, 
however, has neither the shape nor the alphabetical position 
of the Greek Thceta. With the Latin they agree, 1. In pos- 
sessing letters equivalent to/, g, h, q, y. 2. In placing z at 
the end of the alphabet. 

The Moeso- Gothic alphabet seems to have been formed on 
eclectic principles, and on principles sufficiently bold. Nei- 
ther was its application traversed by etymological views. Its 
influence can not easily be traced, except, perhaps, in the 
case of the Anglo-Saxon letters j? and p, upon any other al- 



174 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF ENGLISH ALPHABET. 

phabet ; nor does it seem to have been acted upon by any 
earlier Gothic alphabet. 

THE ANGLO-SAXON ALPHABET. 

§ 127. What sort of an alphabet the Gothic languages 
possess, we know ; what sort of alphabet they require, we 
can determine. For the following sounds (among others), 
current in the Gothic^ either one or both of the Classical lan- 
guages are deficient in corresponding signs : 1. The th in thin; 
a sign in Greek (0), but none in Latin. 2. The th in thine; 
a sign neither in Latin nor Greek. 3. The ch in the German 
auch ; a sign in Greek (;^), but none in Latin. 4. The flat 
sound of the same, of the probable sound of the A in purh^ 
leoht, &c., Anglo-Saxon ; a sign neither in Greek nor Latin. 

5. The sh in shine ; a sign neither in Greek nor Latin. 

6. The z in azure; a sign neither in Greek nor Latin. 

7. The ch in chest ; a sign neither in Greek nor Latin, un- 
less we suppose that, at the time when the x\nglo- Saxon al- 
phabet was formed, the Latin c, in words like civitas, had the 
power v/hich it has in the present Italian of ch. 8. The J in 
jest ; a sign neither in Greek nor Latin, unless we suppose 
that at the time, &c., g had the same power that has been 
indicated with respect to c. 9. The sound of the kj in the 
Norwegian kjenner^ viz.^ that (thereabouts) of ksh ; a sign 
neither in Latin nor Greek. 10. The English sound oi w ; 
a sign neither in Latin nor Greek. 11. The sound of the 
German, ij, Danish y ; no sign in Latin ; probably one in 
Greek, viz., v. 12. Signs for distinguishing the Long and 
Short Vowels, as e and ?;, o and cj ; wanting in Latin, but 
existing in Greek. In all these points the Classical Alpha- 
bets (one or both) were deficient. To make up for their in- 
sufficiency, one of two things was necessary : either to coin 
new letters or to use conventional combinations of the old. 

In the Anglo-Saxon Alphabet (derived from the Latin) we 
have the following features : 1. (7 used to the exclusion of 
k. 2. The absence of the letter j, either with the power of 
y, as in German, of zh, as in French, or of dzh, as in En- 
glish. 3. The absence of g, a useful omission, cw serving 
instead. 4. The absence of v ; u, either double or single, 



THE RUNIC ALPHABET. ^75 

being used instead. 5. The use of ^ as a Vowel, and of e 
SLS p. 6. The absence of z. 7. Use of uti as w or v, Old 
Saxon. 8. The use, in certain conditions, of /for v. 9. The 
presence of the simple single signs Ip and "S, for the th in thin 
and the thin thine. 

Of the Anglo-Saxon Alphabet we may safely say that it 
was insufficient. The points wherein the Latin Alphabet 
was improved, in its adaptation to the Gothic tongues, are, 1, 
The admission of Ip and ^ ; 2. The evolution of w out of u. 

THE ANGLO-NORMAN PERIOD. 

§ 128. Between the Latin Alphabet, as applied to the An- 
glo-Saxon, and the Latin Alphabet, as applied to the Norman 
French, there are certain points of difference. In the first 
place, the sound-system of the language (like that of the 
French), derived from the Latin, bore a greater resemblance 
to that of the Romans than was to be found among the 
Gothic tongues. Secondly, the alphabets of the languages 
in point v/ere more exclusively Latin. In the present French, 
Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese, there is an exclusion of the 
k. This is not the case with the Anglo-Norman. Like the 
Latins, the Anglo-Normans considered that the sound of the 
Greek 6 was represented by th; not, however, having this 
sound in their language, there was no corresponding sound in 
their alphabet. The greatest mischief done by the Norman 
influence was the ejection from the English Alphabet of p 
and 'S. In other respects the alphabet was improved. The 
letters z, k, J, were either imported or more currently recog- 
nized. The letter p took a Semi-vowel power, having been 
previously represented by e, itself having the power of i. 
The mode of spelling the Compound Sibilant with ch was 
evolved. 

THE RUNIC ALPHABET. 

§ 129. The original number of the Runic letters is sixteen, 
expressing the sounds of/, u, ]?, o, r, k, h, n, a, i, s, t, b, I, 
m, y. To these were added four Spurious Runes, denoting 
c, X., «, o, and eight Pointed Runes, after the fashion of the 
pointed letters in Hebrew. 



176 GRAMMAR. 

In the Icelandic language, the word run signifies a letter^ 
and the word runa a furrow, or line. Upon a vast number 
of inscriptions, some upon rocks, some upon stones of a de- 
fined shape, is found an Alphabet different from the Greeks, 
Latins, and Hebrews, and also unlike that of any modern 
nation. In this Alphabet there is a marked deficiency of 
curved or rounded lines, and an exclusive preponderance of 
straight ones. These letters are called Runes, and the Al- 
phabet which they constitute is called the Runic Alphabet. 
Sometimes, by an extension of meaning, the old Norse lan- 
guage, wherein they most frequently occur, is called the Ru- 
nic language. This is as incorrect as to call a language an 
Alphabetic language. To say the Runic stage of a language, 
is neither inaccurate nor inconvenient. The Runic Alpha- 
bet, whether borrowed or invented by the early Goths, is of 
greater antiquity than either the oldest Teutonic or the Moe- 
so-Gothic Alphabets. 

The reduplication of the Consonant folio Vv^ing to express 
the shortness (dependence) of the preceding Vowel, is as old 
as the Classical Languages : 'd^aXdooa, terra. It was the prac- 
tice in the Anglo-Saxon as well as in the English Language . 

" And tatt he loke well })att he 
An hoc-staff write twiggess^ 
Eggwhaer Jiaer itt uppo Jsiss boc 
Iss writenn o Jsatt wise." 

In this practice the current rule is recognized : " Mono- 
syllables and words accented on the last syllable, ending v\dth 
a single consonant preceded by a single vowel, double that 
consonant when they take another syllable beginning with a 
vowel; as, Wit, loitty ; begin, beginner. The reduplica- 
tion of the consonant is necessary to express the shortness 
of the preceding vowel. See § 120. 

GRAMMAR. 

§ 130. Grammar, Greek ypdmia, a letter, as a Science, 
is a system of Principles common to all languages. . These 
principles relate to Articulate Sounds ; to Letters ; to Sylla- 
bles; to Words; to Sentences. 

* Write one letter twice. 



ENGLISH GRAMMAR. 



177 



Grammar, as an Art, is a system of Eules for the practical 
application of these principles to language. 

These principles are deduced from the Analysis of lan- 
guage, and are applied in its Synthesis. A principle in sci- 
ence is a rule in art; the two should not be confounded, 
" The two ideas of Science and Art differ from one another 
£ s the understanding differs from the will, and as the indica- 
tive mode in Grammar differs from the imperative. The one 
deals in facts, and the other in precepts. Science is a collec- 
tion of truths ; art is a body of rules, or directions for the 
conduct. The language of Science is, This is, or This is 
not ; This does or does not happen. The language of Art 
is. Do this ; Avoid that." — Mill's Essays on some Unsettled 
Questions in Political Economy, p. 124. 

ENGLISH GRAMMAR. 

§ 131. English Grammar, as a Science, is a system of 
principles and a collection of facts peculiar to the English 
language, together with those which are common also to 
other languages. 

English Grammar, as an Art, is a system of rules for the 
practical application of these principles to the English lan- 
guage. 

In the Study of English Grammar, the end aimed at is, 
I. An acquaintance with those facts and principles which per- 
tain to the science ; II. A familiarity with the application of 
those principles to practice. He who, in his practice in writ- 
ing and speaking, applies these principles, thus making Sci- 
ence the minister of Art, speaks and writes the English lan- 
guage correctly. 

M 



/ 



/ 



PART IV. 

ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 



CHAPTER I. 

CLASSIFICATION OF THE PARTS OF SPEECH 



DEFINITIONS. 

§ 132. Etymology, from the Greek ervfiov^ an etymon^ and 
Xoyog, an account, is an account of the etymon, the true, lit- 
eral, and exact force of a word. Hence, by extension, it is 
an account of the different kinds of words, of thcit formation 
or derivation, and of their inflection. It treats of the Classi- 
fication, Inflection, and Derivation of words. When used 
in the limited sense of the word, it is the etymology of the 
Grammarian. "When used in the wide sense, it may be 
called Historical etymology. In both senses it takes cogni- 
zance of the changes of form which words undergo. See 
§334. 

Classification is the division of words mio their different 
sorts or parts of speech. 

Inflection is the change of form which words undergo in 
order to express different relations ; as the =ehange of termina- 
tion of a verb to indicate its relation to persons ; as. Speak, 
speakest ; or the change of termination of a noun in declen- 
sion ; as, John, John''s. See § 169. 

Derivation treats of the origin, primary signification, and 
transition of words. Derivation and Etymology are some- 
times used as convertible terms. See § 334. 

A Proposition is a sentence containing an assertion ; as, 
" Man is mortal^ Every proposition has three parts or ele- 
ments : 1. The thing spoken of, called the Subject. 2. That 
which is said of it, called the Predicate. 3. That which con- 
nects the subject and the predicate, called the Copula. Man 



FIRST CLASSIFICATION. ^79 

ill the sentence above is the subject, morlal the predicate, and 
is the copula. But the copula and the predicate are often 
expressed by a single word ; as when we say '^ man diesP 
In this case the word '^ <^i'e5," for grammatical purposes, is 
equiyalent to '^ is mortal,'^'' and can be resolved into it. 

FIRST CLASSIFICATION. 

§ 183. I. A word which can by itself form either the Subject 
or the Predicate of a Proposition, and which is also the name 
of an object, is called a Substantive or Noun ; as, Boston, 
'limn, virtue. " Man is mortal." In this simple proposition 
mg^n is the Subject. /'I also am a manP In this propo- 
sition man is the Predicate. 

II. A word which can not by itself form the Subject of a 
proposition, but can by itself form the Predicate of a proposi- 
tion, and can stand immediately before a substantive to ex- 
press some property, is called an Adjective ; as, '' mortal 
man;" "man 'w> mortal P In this proposition mortal is the 
Predicate. For the Articles, see § 197. 

III. A word which can be used instead of a noun as the 
Subject or the Predicate of a proposition, is called a Pronoun. 
"The man is happy; he is benevolent." Here he is used 
instead of man, as the Subject of the proposition. " I am /^e." 
Here he is the Predicate of the proposition. 

IV. A word which can by itself form the Copula of a prop- 
osition, or which can by itself form the Copula and the Predi- 
cate of a proposition, and can express an assertion, is called 
a Verb; as, " Man /s mortal ;" " man <ize5." Here zs forms 
the Copula of the first proposition, and dies=^is dying, the 
Copula and the Predicate of the second. See § 439. 

V. A word which can not by itself form a part of a sim- 
ple proposition, but which can combine with verbs and ad- 
jectives to modify their meaning, is called an Adverb ; as, 
" He reads correctly f^ "he w^as exceedingly careful." 

VI. A word which by itself can not form a part of a sim- 
ple proposition, but which can combine with nouns and pro- 
nouns to express some relation, is called a Preposition ; as, 
" He went from New York to Boston." 

VIL A word which can connect two propositions without 



ISO , ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

making a part of either, is called a Conjunction ; as, '' The 
sun shines and the sky is clear." 

VIII. A word which can neither form a part of a proposi- 
tion nor connect two different propositions, but is thrown in 
to express some sudden thought or emotion, is called an In- 
terjection ; as, ah ; pish. 

second classification. 

§ 134. The Parts of Speech have, by some Grammarians, 
been divided into, 1. Essential words, namely, such as ex- 
press a Notion or Idea, which are the Substantive, the Ad- 
jective, the Verb, and the Adverbs derived from those parts 
of speech. 2. Formal words, namely, such as express the 
different relations of the Idea, which are the Pronoun, the 
Numeral, the Preposition, the Conjunction, and the Adverbs 
derived from those parts of speech, and the verb to be. The 
Interjection, not expressing either an idea or its relation, can 
not strictly be considered as a part of speech. 

THIRD CLASSIFICATION. 

§ 135. Moreover, by other Grammarians, words have been 
divided into Primary and Secondary. The First Class, 
namely, the primary, consists oi Nouns and Verbs, words 
which are so necessary to the communication of ideas that no 
complete sentence can be formed without the use of both, un- 
less when a substitute is used for a noun. Thus, flowers 
fade, is a complete sentence, containing a noun and a verb; 
remove either of them, and the proposition is destroyed. 
Erom the importance of these words, they are denominated 
the Primary Parts of Speech. 

The Second Class consists of words of Secondary or Sub- 
ordinate importance, or of such as are dependent on other 
words in construction. 1. Words which express the quali- 
ties of things, and which, therefore, are attached to the names 
of those things. These are called Adjectives or Attributives. 
2. Words which supply the place of other words and of sen- 
tences, which are called Pronouns or Substitutes. 3. Words 
which modify the sense of other words by expressing the man- 
ner of action or degree of quality. These are called Ad- 



THE SUBSTANTIVE OR NOUN. 



181 



verbs or Modifiers. 4. Words which are placed before other 
words, and show the relation between them and those which 
precede them. These are called Prepositions. 5. Words 
which join together the parts of a sentence or of a discourse , 
in regular construction. These are called Connectives or . 
Conjunctions. 

§ 136. *'Horne Tooke proves by an immense induction that 
all Particles were originally Nouns and Verbs, and thenco 
concludes that in reality they are so still, and that the ordi- 
nary division of the parts of speech is absurd ; keeping out of 
sight as self-evident the other Premiss, which is absolutely 
false, viz., that the meaning of a word, now and forever, must 
be that which it or its root originally bore." — See Whately's 
Logic. While it is conceded that his researches have thrown 
a flood of light upon that class of words, we should not allow 
ourselves to be deceived by the fallacy of his conclusions. 
Undoubtedly there are great difficulties in the application of 
the principles of Classification to particular words. The same 
words which belonged to one class at one period in the his- 
tory of the language may at another period belong to an- 
other class. Thus, the word ^2/ may at one period have been 
a verb, and at another may be, in a form slightly changed 
(z/), a conjunction. The same word may, in different situa- 
tions, belong to different classes. Thus, the word that may 
be in one situation a pronoun, and in another a conjunction. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE SUBSTANTIVE OR NOUN. 

^ § 137. A Substantive or Noun is a word which can by 
itself form either the Subject or the Predicate of a proposi- 
tion, and which is also the name of an object ; as, Bostouy 
mail) virtue. See § 398. 

Substantive (Latin substantivus, substantia) strictly de- 
notes that which stands under, or is a foundation of accidents 
or attributes, and which, therefore, may be considered as inde- 



182 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

pendent, and may stand by itself. Noun is from the Latin 
nomen, a name, through the Norman or Old French. A 
Substantive Noun or a Substantive is, then, a name which 
can stand by itself in distinction from an Adjective Noun or 
an Adjective. It is the name of an object of thought^ wheth- 
er perceived by the senses or the understanding. Whatever 
exists, or is conceived to exist, is a Noun. Substantive and 
Noun are, in common use, convertible terms. ^ ; 

CLASSIFICATION OF NOUNS. 

§ 138. 1. Proper Nouns are the names of Individual per- 
sons or things, and not of a species ; as, John^ Philadelphia. 

2. GoisiMON or Appellative Nouns are the names of a 
Class of persons or things, or of an individual belonging to 
a class ; as, Man, a man ; tree, a tree. Man and tree are 
classes ; a man, a tree, are individuals, each belonging to a 
class. 

3. An Abstract Noun is the name of a simple quality, 
considered as independent of a subject ; as. Wisdom, folly. 

4. A Concrete Noun is the name of the subject and of 
the quality inherent in the subject ; as. The wise ; the fool. 

5. A Collective Noun is a name which, in the singular 
number, denotes more than one ; as, An army, a company. 

6. Correlative Nouns are names of objects which are 
viewed as related to each other ; as. King and subject ; son 
and father. 

7. Participial Nouns are those which have the form of 
participles, but perform the office of nouns; as, Reading is 
instructive ; the writing is legible. 

8. Diminutive Nouns are those which are derived from oth- 
er nouns, and which express some din'iinution of the original 
meaning; sls, Satchel fYom sack; duckling from, cluck. See 
§ 366. 

§ 139. Proper Nouns in the plural number, or with an ar- 
ticle prefixed, become common nouns; as, ^^ the Hoiaards ;^^ 
he is the Cicero of his age. The term proper is from being 
proper, that is, peculiar to the individual bearing the name. 
The term common is from being common to every individual 
comprised in the class. The term appellative, from appel- 



GENDERS OF NOUNS. 



183 



lare^ to call, is applied to common nouns, because they are 
the names by which classes of objects are called. See § 375. 
§ 140. The Attributes of Nouns are, Person, Gender, 
Number, and Case. A noun which the speaker applies to 
himself as speaker, is of the first person ; as, '^ I, Victoria, 
Queen of England." A noun applied to the person spoken 
to is of the SECOND person ; as, " Thou child of mortality." 
A noun applied to a person or thing spoken of is of the third 
person ; as, " Exercise promotes health." 

GENDERS OF NOUNS. 

§ 141. Gender is a Grammatical distinction in nouns ex- 
pressing the natural distinction of Sex. 

The Masculine Gender denotes the male sex; as, A 
man ; a boy. 

The Feminine Gender denotes the female sex ; as, A 
woman ; a girl. 

The Neuter Gender denotes the absence of sex ; as, A 
chair ; a table. 

There are, strictly speaking, but two sexes; yet, for con- 
venience, the neuter {neither of the two) is classed with the 
Genders. In this distribution the English language follows 
the order of nature, and is philosophically correct. In the 
Greek, Latin, and Anglo-Saxon, the gender is determined 
by the termination. In the French, the Italian, the Portu- 
guese, and the Hebrew, all nouns are either Masculine or 
Feminine. The English language is, in this respedt, more 
animated, since it admits of more frequent personifications. 
What in the French is Prose, is in the English Poetry. The 
distinction is more marked in Latin, and other languages in 
which there are more cases, than in the English ; for it not 
unfrequently runs through all the cases. Thus, Dominus, 
a Lord, and Domina, a Lady, are, in the singular number, 
different frorh each other in all the six cases. 

§ 142. Languages which form the genders of nouns on 
terminations are full of inconsistency, laying down rules, ap- 
parently, for the purpose of nullifying them by numerous ex- 
ceptions. As Gender, in the English language, is founded 
on distinction of sex, in its ordinary uses in philosophy, in 



184 



ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 



history, in common conversation, all objects not male or fe- 
male are mentioned as of the Neuter Gender ; but in animat- 
ed discourse, in poetry and eloquence, objects are personified, 
and the Masculine or Feminine Gender is attributed to them, 
on the ground of some perceived analogies or some artificial 
associations. See § 648. Thus Milton : 

" As when the sun, new risen, 
Looks through the misty horizontal air, 
Shorn of his beams." 

" Of lavi^, no less can be acknowledged than that Aer seat 
is the bosom of God, her voice the harmony of the world- 
All things in heaven and earth do her homage ; the very least 
as feeling her care, and the greatest as not exempted from 
her power." — Hooker, EccL Polity^ book i., 16. 

The classical languages represented Love, under the Mas- 
culine Gender, as a playful boy. English poets have fol- 
lowed their example : 

" Love in my bosom, like a bee, 
Doth suck his sweet ; 
Now with his wings he plays with me, 
Now with his feet." — Lodge. 

If for his and her^ in these passages, you substitute its, 
or translate them into languages in which gender is formed 
by termination, you destroy the images, and reduce Poetry 
and Eloquence to mere ptose and common discourse, 

§ 143. Gender in the English language is distinguished, 
I. By difference of termination. 



Masculine. 


Femiiiine. 


Masculine. 


Feminine. 


Abbot, 


Abbess. 


Dauphin, 


Dauphiness. 


Actor, 


Actress. 


Deacon, 


Deaconess. 


Administrator, 


Administratrix. 


Director, 


Directress. 


Adulterer, 


Adulteress. 


Don, 


Donna. 


Arbiter, 


Arbitress. 


Duke, 


Duchess. 


Baron, 


Baroness. 


Elector, 


Electress. 


Benefactor, 


Benefactress. 


Emperor, 


Empress. 


Bridegroom, 


Bride, k 148, 12. 


Enchanter, 


Enchantress 


Caterer, 


Cateress. 


Executor, 


Executress. 


Chanter, 


Chantress. 


Founder, 


Foundress. 


Conductor, 


Conductress. 


Gaffer, 


Gammer. 


Czar, 


Czarina. 


Giant, 


Giantess. 



GENDERS OF NOUNS. 



185 



Mascnlme. 


Feroinine. 


Masculine. 


Feminine. 


Governor, 


Governess. 


Prior, 


Prioress. 


Heritor, 


Heritrix. 


Prophet, 


Prophetess. 


Hero, 


Heroine. 


Protector, 


Protectress. 


Heir, 


Heiress. 


Priest, 


Priestess. 


Hunter, 


Huntress. 


Prince, 


Princess. 


Host, 


Hostess. 


Songster, 


Songstress. 


Instructor, 


Instructress. 


Sorcerer, 


Sorceress. 


Jew, 


Jewess. 


Sultan, 


( Sultaness. 
( Sultana. 


Landgrave, 


Langravine. 


Lion, 


Lioness. 


Testator, 


Testatrix. 


Marquis, 


Marchioness. 


Tiger, 


Tigress. ^ 


Mayor, 


Mayoress. 


Tutor, 


Tutoress. 


Negro, 


Negress. 


Tyrant, 


Tyranness. 


Patron, 


Patroness. 


Votary, 


Votress. 


Peer, 


Peeress. 


Viscount, 


Vicountess. 


Poet, 


Poetess. 


Widower, 


Widow. 



This termination of ess has been borrowed from the French 
esse and ice, which they have taken from the Latin issa and 
IX : Abbatissa, Abbasse in Old English, Abbess. Actrix, Ac- 
trice, Actress. But the French distinguish between esse and 
ice ; we bring both to one, the Sound being nearly the same. 
These are all of Norman Descent, unknown to the ancient 
Saxons. In JSformanno- Saxon, we have Emperice, Abbed- 
desse, and Countesse, which are three of the oldest. The 
Original of this termination may be run up to the Greek 
Feminine termination -i^, -Looa, npo(f)riTLg, Prophetissa, French 
Prophetisse, Old English Profetesse, now Prophetess ; I3aai- 
Xevg, (iaaiXiGGa. 

§ 144. II. By different words, namely, by those that 
have no etymological relation to each other. 



Masculine. 


Feminine. 


Masculine. 


Feminine. 


Bachelor, 


Maid, 


Spinster. 


Colt, 


FiUey. 


Beau, 


Belle. 




Cock, 


Hen. 


Boar, 


Sow. 




Dog, 


Bitch. 


Boy, 


Girl. 




Drake, 


Duck. 


Brother, 


Sister. 




Earl, 


Countess. 


Buck, 


Doe. 




Father, 


Mother. 


Bull, 


Cow. 




Friar, Monk, 


Nun. 


Bullock, 


Heifer, 




Gander, 


Goose. 



186 



ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 



Masculine. 


Feminine. 


MascTiline. 


Femiaine: 


Gentleman, 


Lady. 


Papa, 


Mamma. 


Hart, 


Roe. 


Ram, 


Ewe. 


Horse, . 


Mare. 


Rake, 


Jilt. 


Husband, 


Wife. 


Sir, 


Madam. 


King, 


Queen. 


Sloven, 


Slut. 


Lad, 


Lass. 


Son, 


Daughter. 


Landlord, 


Landlady. 


Steer, 


Heifer. 


Man, 


Woman. 


Stag, 


Hind. 


Master, 


Mistress. 


Swain, 


Nymph. 


Milter, 


Spawner. 


Uncle, 


Aunt. 


Nephew, 


Niece. 


Wizard. 


Witch. 


III. By PREFIXING or AFFIXING anothev word. 


Masculine. 


Feminine. 


Masculine. 


Feminine. 


Afa?z-servant, 


Maid-sexYdiRi. 


Jjcinddord, 


Ju3.iidlady. 


Ooc^-sparrow, 


-He?2-sparrow. 


Male child, 


Female child. 


Gentlema?^, 


Gentlewoj7ian. 


Male relations, 


Female relations 


iJe-goat, 


She-goa,t. 


Peacock, 


VedJien, 


JTe-bear, 


She-hea,!. 


Mankmdi, 


Wo9nankmd, 



IV. By THE MEANING. Names of males are Masculine, 
names of females are Feminine ; as, John, Mary. 

§ 145. Some words have the same termination for both 
masculine and feminine. These are of the Common Gender ; 
as, Parent, guardian, cousin, student, botanist, witness. 

Some words are used only in the feminine ; as. Laundress, 
seamstress, brunette, doioager, jointress, mantua-maker, mil- 
line}', shrew, virago, siren, amazon. 

Some masculine words are extended to mean the whole 
species ; as, man^ to denote the human race, females as well 
as males. Some feminine words are used for the species ; 
as, Geese, ducks. 

§ 146. As sex is a natural distinction, and as gender is a 
grammatical one, we find they do not exactly coincide with 
each other. Thus gladius, a sioord, is of the masculine gen- 
der in Latin, and hasta, a lance, is of the feminine gender. In 
German, weib, a woman, is neuter. The English language 
is philosophically correct in considering things without life of 
the neuter gender ; yet, by an easy analogy, the imagination 
conceives of inanimate things as animated, and distinguished 



GENDERS OF NOUNS. 



187 



by sex. A ship the sailors call she, even when her name is 
masculine. '' You know," says Mr. Cobbett, '' that our 
country folks in Hampshire call almost every thing he or she. 
It is curious to observe" that the country laborers give the 
feminine appellation to those things only which are more 
closely identified with themselves, and by the qualities and 
conditions of which their own efforts and character as work- 
men are affected. A mower calls his scythe a she, the plow- 
man calls his plow a she ; but a prong or a shovel, which 
passes from hand to hand, and which is appropriated to no 
particular laborer, is called a heP- — English Grammar, Let- 
ter V. 

Now, although Mr. Cobbett's statements may account for 
a sailor calling his ship she, they will not account for the cus- 
tom of giving to the sun a Masculine, and to the moon a 
Feminine Pronoun ; still less will they account for the cir- 
cumstance of the Germans reversing the Gender, and mak- 
ing the sun Feminine and the moon Masculine. 

§ 147. Let there be a period in the history of a nation 
wherein the sun and moon are dealt with, not as inanimate 
masses of matter, but as animated divinities. Let there, in 
other words, be a period in the history of a nation wherein 
dead things are personified, and wherein there is a mythol- 
ogy. Let an object like the sun be deemed a male, and an 
^object like the moon a female divinity. 

The Germans say, the sun in her glory, the moon in his 
wane. This difference between the usage of the two lan- 
guages, like so many others, is explained by the influence of 
Classical Languages upon the English: ^^ Mundilfori had 
two children: a son, Mdni [Moon), and a daughter, Sol 
(Sun).^^ In the Classical Languages, however, Phcebus and 
Sol are Masculine, and Luna and Diana Feminine. Hence 
it is that, although in Anglo-Saxon and Old Saxon the sun 
is Feminine, it is in English Masculine. It was, perhaps, 
under the influence of the Saxon associations that Shaks- 
peare calls " the blessed sun a fair wench in flame-colored 
taffeta." 

§ 148. 1. In words like Baron, baroness, it is a general 
rule that the Feminine form is derived from the Masculine, 



188 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

and not the Masculine from the Feminine ; as, peer, peeress. 
The word widower is an exception. In the word wizard^ 
from wildly ard is the sign of the Masculine. 

2. The words Shepherdess, huntress, and hostess are faulty, 
the radical part of the word being Germanic and the second- 
ary Classical ; indeed, in strict English Grammar, the term- 
ination -ess has no place at all. It is a Classic, not a Goth- 
ic element. 

3. The termination -inn, so current in German as the 
equivalent to -ess, and as a Feminine affix (Freund = a friend ; 
Freundinn=a female friend), is found only in one or two 
words in English : 

" There were five carlins in the South, 
That fell upon a scheme 
To send a lad to London town, 
To bring them tidings hame." — Burns. 

Carlin means an old woman : Icelandic Kerling ; Swedish 
Karing ; Danish Kmlling. Root, Carl. Vixen is a true 
Feminine derivative from fox ; German Fuchsinn. Bruin 
= the bear, may be either a female form, as in Old High-Ger- 
man, FeYo= he-bear, Perinn = she-bear, or it may be the 
Norse form, Bjdrn = bear, male or female. Words like mar- 
gravine and landgravine prove nothing, being scarcely nat- 
uralized. 

4. The termination -sir, as in Webster, songster, and Bax- 
ter, was originally a Feminine affix. Thus, Anglo-Saxon, 



Sangere, a male singer, 
Bacere, a male baker, 
Fi^elere, a male fiddler, 
Vebbere, a male weaver, 
E-aedere, a male reader, 
Seamere, a male seamer, 



o 

O 

02 

CD 



Sangestre, a female singer, 
Bacestre, a female baker. 
Fi-§elstre, a female fiddler. 
Vebbestre, a female weaver. 
Rsedestre, a female reader. 
Seam.estre, a female seamer. 



5. The same is the case in the present Dutch of Holland; 
e. g., Spookster = a female fortune-teller ; Bakster = a bak- 
ing-woman; Waschster z= a washeriooman (Oxiumi, D. G., 
iii., p. 339). The word spinster still retains its original 
Feminine force. 

6. The words Songstress and seamstress, besides being, 
as far as concerns the intermixture of languages, in the pre- 



GENDERS OF NOUNS. 



189 



dicament of shepherdess, have, moreover, a double Feminina 
termination : 1st. -str, of Germanic : 2d. -ess, of Classical origin. 
7. In the v^ord Heroine we have a Greek termination, 
just as -ix is a Latin, and -mn a German one. It must 
not, however, be considered as derived from hero by any pro- 
cess of the English language, but be dealt with as a separate 
importation from the Greek language. 

.8. The form Deaconess is not wholly unexceptionable, since 
the termination -ess is of Latin, the root deacon of Greek 
origin, this Greek origin being rendered all the more conspic- 
uous ^ by the spelling, deacon (from diaconos), as compared 
with the Latin decanus. 

9. It is uncertain whether Kit, as compared with cat, be 
a Feminine form or a Diminutive one ; or, in other words, 
whether it mean a female cat or a young cat. See the chap- 
ter on the Diminutives. 

10. Goose, Gander. — One peculiarity in this pair of words 
has already been indicated. In the older forms of the word 
goose, such as xr]v, Greek; anser, Latin; gans, German, we 
have the proof that, originally, there belonged to the word 
the sound of the letter n. In the forms d6ovq,666vToq, Greek; 
dens, dentis, Latin ; zahn, German ; tooth, English, we find 
the analogy that accounts for the ejection of the n and the 
lengthening of the Vowel preceding. With respect, howev- 
er, to the d in gander, it is not easy to say whether it is in- 
serted in one word or omitted in the other. Neither can we 
give the precise power of the -er. The following forms (taken 
from Grimm, iii., p. 341) occur in the different Gothic dia- 
lects : Gans, Fem. ; ganazzo, Masc, Old High-German. 
G6s, Fem. ; gandra, Masc, Anglo-Saxon. Gas, Icelandic, 
Fem. ; gaas, Danish, Fem. ; gassi, Icelandic, Masc. ; gasse, 
Danish, Masc. Ganser, ganserer, gansart, g anser ich, gan- 
der. Masculine forms in different New German dialects. 

11. Observe, the form gdnserich has a Masculine termina- 
tion. The word t'duherich, in provincial New German, has 
the same form and the same power. It denotes a male dove ; 
taube, in German, signifying a dove, lu G'dnserich and Tdu- 
berich we find preserved the termination -rich (or -rik), with 
a masculine power. Of this termination we have a remnant 



X90 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

preserved, in English, in the curious word drake. To duck 
the word drake has no etymological relations whatever. It 
is derived from a word with which it has but one letter in 
common, viz., the Latin anas = a. duck. Of this the root is 
^anat', as seen in the Genitive Case, anatis. In Old High- 
German we find the form anetrekho =^?i drake; in Provin- 
cial New High- German there is enter ich and dntrecht, from 
whence come the English and Low German form drake. 
(Grimm, D. G., iii., p. 341.) 

12. Peacock, Peahen, Bridegroom. — -In these compdunds 
it is not the words pea and bride tha,t are rendered Mascu- 
line or Feminine by the addition of cock, hen, and groom, 
but it is the words cock, hen, and groom that are modified 
by prefixing pea and bride. 

§ 149. In all cases where the sex is sufficiently indicated 
by a separate word, names may be used to denote females 
without a distinct termination. Thus, although females are 
rarely soldiers, sailors, philosophers, there is not the least im- 
propriety in the use of these terms for females ; for the sex 
is clearly indicated by the term she oy female, or the appro- 
priate name of the woman ; as, Joan of Arc was a warrior. 
The masculine term has the general meaning expressing both 
male aiid female, and is always employed when the office, oc- 
cupation, or profession, and not the sex of the individual, is 
chiefly to be expressed. The feminine term is used in these 
cases only when discriminations of sex are indispensably nec- 
essary. This is illustrated by the following examples : If I 
say the '•^ poets of the age are distinguished more by correct- 
ness of taste than by sublimity of conception," I clearly in- 
clude in the term poet both male and female writers of poet- 
ry. If I say '' she is the best poetess of the country," I as- 
sign her the superiority over those of her own sex. If I say 
"she is the he^t poet of the country," I pronounce her supe- 
rior to all other writers of poetry, both male and female. 

NUMBERS OF NOUNS, 

§ 150. Number is the distinction between One and More 
than one, usually expressed by some difference in termina- 
tion. . . 



NUMBERS OF NOUNS. 191 

There are two Numbers, the Singular and the Plural. 
The Singular denotes one object ; as, a hook ; the Plural de- 
notes more than one ; as, books. 

I. Some ancient languages, as the Anglo-Saxon, the Moeso- 
Gothic, and the Greek and Hebrew, the old and the present 
Icelandic, in addition to the singular and the plural, had the 
Dual^ which denotes two objects, or a pair. The English 
has no dual. Dual is from the Latin word duo-=two. 

II. In most words in English the Plural Number is, in the 
Spoken language, formed from the singular by the addition 
of the sound of s in seal^ or of the z in zeal., or of that of the 
syllable ez ; as, stacks, stag-z, stag-ez. 

The Plural Number is generally expressed in the Written 
language by the addition of the letter s to the singular ; as, 
folios, pens. 

When the terminating sound of the singular will not unite 
with that of 5, es is added to express the plural ; as, fox-e5, 
glass-e5, brush-e5, church-e^, pronounced fox-ez, glass-ez, 
brush-ez, church-ez. 

If the last sound of the singular be that of an Aspirate 
(surd) Consonant, not 5 nor sh, th.e sound added to it to form 
the plural is that of the letter s in seal; as, top, tops ; muff, 
muffs ; cot, cots ; moth, moths ; stock, stocks. But if the 
last sound of the singular be that of a Vocal (sonant) Con- 
sonant, not z nor zh, or of a vowel, the sound added to it to 
form the plural is that of 2r in zeal ; as, slab, slab-2r; stove, 
stove-2r; lad, lad-2^; dog, dog-2r; hill, hill-2r; drum, drum-^r; 
hen, hen-2r ; bar, bar-2r / day, day-2r ; flea, Rea-z ; bow, 
how-z ; spelled slabs, stoves, lads, dogs, hilVs, drums, hens, 
bars, days, fleas, bows. 

III. In the case of words ending in b, v, d, the th in thine 
==■§, or g, a change either of the final Flat Consonant, or of 
the Sharp s affixed, was not a matter of choice, but of neces- 
sity ; the combinations abs, avs, ads, a^s, ags being unpro- 
nounceable. See Law of Accommodation, § 69. 

Whether the first of the two Consonants should be accom- 
modated to the second (aps, afs, ap, asks), or the second to 
the first (^abs, avz, a^z, agz), is determined by the habit of 
the particular language in question ; and, with a few appa- 



192 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

rent exceptions (mark the word apparent^ it is the rule of 
the English language to accommodate the second sound to 
the first, and not vice versa. 

Such combinations as peas^ trees, hills, hens, &c. (the ^ 
preserving its original power, and being sounded as if writ- 
ten peace, treece, hillce, hence), being pronounceable, the 
change from s to z, in words so ending, is not a matter de- 
termined by the necessity of the case, but by the habit of the 
English language. 

Although the vast majority of our Plurals end not in s, 
but in z, the original addition was not z, but s. This we 
infer from three facts : 1. From the spelling. 2. From the 
sound of z being either rare or non-existent in Anglo-Saxon. 
3. From the sufficiency of the causes to bring about the 
change. 

IV. Nouns ending in y, after a consonant, change y into ies 
to form the plural ; as, glory, glories. Formerly the singu- 
lar number of this class of words ended in ie ; as, glorie, 
vanitie. In the formation of the plural they followed the 
common rule. In the process of time ie was changed into y 
in the singular, while the ancient form of the plural was re- 
tained. Alkali has for its plural alkalies. 

V. Nouns ending in o, preceded by a consonant, generally 
form their plural in es ; as, hero, heroes ; cargo, cargoes. 
To this rule there are many exceptions ; as, ca7ito, cento, 
grotto, junto, portico, duodecimo, octavo, quarto, solo, tyro, 
motto, memento, zero. Virtuoso makes virtuosi and virtu- 
osos. 

VI. Certain Nouns ending in/or/e form their plurals by 
changing/ or /e intoves; as, loaf, loaves; wife, ivives, pro- 
nounced loavz, wivz. F in the singular is changed into v in 
the plural, not from any difficulty in pronouncing the sound of 
/ with that of s, since they are both surd consonants, but be- 
cause/in the Anglo-Saxon had, in the end of words, the power 
of V ; so that, instead of the plural form being changed^, it is 
probable that the singular has been modified. Beef, calf, 
sheaf, leaf, thief, half, elf, self, luolf, shelf, also life, knife, 
and staff, make their plural in ves ; as, beeves, staves. The 
compounds of staff are regular ; as, flag-staffs. 



NUMBERS OF NOUNS. 



193 



§ 151. Some nouns form their plurals in en ; as. Ox, ox-en; 
hose, hos-en. In the Anglo-Saxon, no termination of the plu- 
ral number was more common than n; as, tungen, tongues. 
Of this termination we have remains in the words quoted ; 
and also shoe, shoon ; eye, eyen or eyne ; house, housen ; 
welken. 

§ 152. Some nouns form their plurals by a change of vow- 
el; as, man, men, Anglo-Saxon Man, men; woman, women; 
tooth, teeth, Anglo-Saxon toth, teth ; mouse, mice, Anglo- 
Saxon mus, mys ; louse, lice, Anglo-Saxon lus, lys ; goose, 
geese, Anglo-Saxon gos, ges ; sow, anciently sowen, swine ; 
cow, anciently cowen, kine. Analogous to these are the fol- 
lowing words from the Anglo-Saxon: Freond, frynd, friends; 
feond,fynd, foes ; boc, bee, books ; broc, brec, breeches; turf, 
tyrf, turves. Mussulman, Turcoman, talisman, form their 
plurals by the addition of s. 

§ 153. Some nouns have a Double form of the plural. 
Child, plural, child-er ; er is an ancient plural termination. 
Child-er-en ; -en is another plural termination ; children 
=childeren, has a double form of the plural. Brother, by a 
change of vowel, br ether ; next, by the addition ol-en. As 
children is a double form of one sort (r+ n^, m peasen= pulse^ 
is a double form of another sort {s-\-en) ; pea, pea-s, pea-s-en. 
Chick, plural, chick-en; double plural, chick-en-s. 

§ 154. Some nouns have Two Plurals, with different sig- 
nifications. _ 



Singular. 

Brother, 

Die, 

Index, 

Pea, 

Penny, 

Cow, 

Sow, 

Fish, 

Genius, 



Brothers (of the same par- 
ents), 
Dies (for coining), 
Indexes (tables of contents) 
Peas (individuals), 
Pennies (coins). 
Cows, 
Sows, 

Fishes (individuals), 
Geniuses (men of genius). 



Brethren (of the same so- 
ciety). 
Dice (for gaming). 
Indices (signs in Algebra). 
Pease (the species). 
Pence (the value). 
Kine =^ cows. 
Swine (the species). 
Fish (the species). 
Genii (imaginary spirits). 



155. Many Foreign words retain their Original Plu- 



rals. 



N 



194 



ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 



Arcanum, 

Magus, 

Vortex, 

Genus, 

Larva, 

Phenomenon, 



Arcana. 

Magi. 

Vortices. 

Genera. 

LarvsB. 

Phenomena. 



Singular. 

Crisis, 

Ephemeris, 

Hypothesis, 

Madam, 

Monsieur, 

Beau, 



Crises. 

Ephemerides. 

Hypotheses. 

Mesdames. 

Messieurs. 

Beaux. " 



§ 156. Some Foreign words have both an English plural 
and the Original one. 



Singular. 

Cherub, 

Bandit (banditto), 

Dogma, 

Seraph, 

Memorandum, 

Virtuoso, 



English Plural. 

Cherubs, 

Bandits, 

Dogmas, 

Seraphs, 

Memorandums, 

Virtuosos, 



Foreign Plural. 

Cherubim. 

Banditti. 

Dogmata. 

Serapliim. 

Memoranda. 

Virtuosi. 



§ 157. Some nouns have no plural terminations : 1. Those 
which denote things measured or weighed ; as, Rye, barley, 
flax, flour. But, to express varieties, some have plural 
forms; as, sugar, sugars ; wine, wines. 2. Names of ab- 
stract qualities ; as, harshness, prudence. To this there are 
some exceptions, as we say aflinities, gravities. 

§ 158. Some nouns denote plurality without a plural 
termination ; as. Horse, foot, infantry. Cavalry is often 
used as a plural noun. 

§ 159. Some nouns have the same form in both numbers; 
as. Cattle, deer, sheep, trout, salmon, cannon, shot, head, sail, 
weight ; as, twenty weight. In the Saxon Chronicle it is 
said, " He heald that Arcebisceop-rice eighteen year." In 
the same work occurs the expression, forty-one winter. Yet 
in the Anglo-Saxon, year and winter had plural terminations. 
Phrases like '' a twelvemonth" are sometimes used. 

§ 160. Some nouns have the plural termination only; 
as. Annals, Antipodes, Archives, Ashes, Assets, Bitters, Bow- 
els, Breeches, Compasses, Clothes, Calends, Customs, Draiu- 
ers, Dow7is, Dregs, Embers, Entrails, Fetters, Fili7igs, Folks, 
Folk is obsolete. Goods, Hatches, Hose, Ides, Lees, Lungs, 
Matins, Malloivs, Nippers, Pi?icers, Pinchers, Snuffers, 
Shears, Scissors, Shambles, Thanks, Tha?ik is obsolete, Tid- 
ings, Tongs, Vespers, Vitals, Victuals. Letters, in the sense 



NUMBERS OF NOUNS. , j_ 9 5 

of literature, smd' Manners ^ in the sense of behavior, may be 
added to the list. These are used in the plural number. 

§ 161. Other Nouns, though plural in form, are in con- 
struction EITHER Singular or Plural, at the pleasure of 
the writer, according as he wishes to convey the idea of unity 
or of plurality ; as, Amends ^ Alms, Belloios, Gallows, Odds, 
Means, Pains, News, Riches, Wages, Billiards, Dynamics, 
Fives, Sessions, Measles, Hysterics, Physics, Metaphysics, 
Ethics^ Optics, Conies, Catoptrics, Dioptrics, Pneumatics, 
Acoustics, Statics, Statistics, Spherics, Politics, Economics, 
Tactics, Mathematics, Mechanics, HydroMlics, HydrostoMcs, 
Analytics. 

§ 162. '^Mathematics, Metaphysics, Politics, Ethics, Op- 
tics, Physics.— The following is an exhibition of my hypoth- 
esis respecting these words, to which I invite the reader's crit- 
icism. All the words in point are of Greek origin, and all are 
derived from a Greek Adjective. Each is the name of some 
department of study, of some art, or of some science. As the 
words are Greek, so are also the sciences which they denote 
either of Greek origin or else such as flourished in Greece, 
Let the arts and sciences of Greece be expressed, in Greek, 
rather by a Substantive and an Adjective combined than by 
a simple Substantive ; for instance, let it be the habit of the 
language to say the musical art rather than music. Let the 
Greek for art be a word in the Feminine Gender ; e. g., rex^ri 
(t,ekhnce), so that the musical art be ?J iiovami] tex^ti (lice mou- 
sikcB tekhnce). Let, in the progress of language (as was act- 
ually the case in Greece), the Article and Substantive be 
omitted, so that for the musical art, or for 7nusic, there stand 
only the Feminine Adjective fiovGcicrf. Let there be, upon a 
given art or science, a series of books or treatises; the Greek 
for book or treatise being a Neuter Substantive, (ildXiov (^bid- 
lion). Let the Substantive meaning treatise be, in the course 
of language, omitted, so that while the science of Physics is 
called (pvGLKT] {^fysikm), physic, from i] (pvacfci] rexvr], a series 
of treatises, or even chapters, upon the science, shall be called 
(f)VGiKd i^fysika) or physics. Now all this was what happened 
in Greece. The science was denoted by a Feminine Adjec- 
tive Singular, as (pvaiicrj (fysikce), and the treatises upon it 



196 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

by the Neuter Adjective Plural, as 4)voLKd {^fysika). The 
treatises of Aristotle are generally so named. To apply this., 
I conceive that, in the Middle Ages, a science of Greek origin 
might have its name drawn from two sources, viz.^ from the 
name of the art or science, or from the name of the books 
wherein it was treated. In the first case it had a Singular 
form, as, Physic, Logic ; in the second case a Plural form, 
as, Mathematics^ Metaphysics^ Optics.'^'' — Latham, p. 222. 

Pains, Riches^ and Wages, are more usually considered as 
plural, though riches seems to have been the French richesse, 
and, therefore, strictly, no more plural than gentlenesse. 
Wages was originally wagis, and really singular. Pains, 
when preceded by much, should have a singular verb. News 
is generally singular. Odds and Means are either singular 
or plural. Measles, as the name of a disease, is no more plu- 
ral than gout or fever. Billiards has the sense of game, con- 
taining unity of idea. Ethics, Metaphysics, and other similar 
words, comprehending each the whole system of a particular 
science, do not convey the idea of parts or particular branches, 
but of a whole collectively, and hence seem to be treated as 
words belonsrinc? to the sino^ular number. Alms was orisfin- 
ally a noun singular, being a contraction of the Anglo-Saxon 
celmesse, Greek iXsrjfioGvvTj. The s belonged to the word just 
as the s in goose does. '' This almesse shouldst thou do of 
thy proper things." — Chaucer. 

§ 163. Some Nouns have sometimes the same form for 

BOTH NUMBERS, and at OTHER TIMES A REGULAR PLURAL FORM ; 

such are Dozen, pair, brace, couple, score. '' He bought 
ten dozen ;" ^' he bought them by dozens.^^ 

§ 164. "Compounds, consisting of two or more words con- 
nected by a hyphen, are generally composed either of two 
nouns, of which one is used in the sense of an adjective, as 
man-trap, where man is really an adjective ; or of a 7ioun 
and adjective, as court-martial ; or of a noun and some ex- 
pression having the force of an adjective, as father^n-law, 
where in-law has the force of an adjective as much as legal. 
In all these compounds the sign of the plural is added to that 
part of the compound which really constitutes the noun, 
whether at the end or not ; as, man-traps, courts-martial, 



CASES OF NOUNS. 



197 



fathers-in-law. In forming the possessive case, the rule is 
different, the sign of the possessive being uniformly suffixed 
to the compound expression ; thus, father -in-law^ plural fa- 
thers-in-law^ ^o^^Q^^iYQ fathers-in-law^ s."^^ — Hart's Grammar, 
p. 42. 

§ 165. There are four simple forms of the plural in 
English, and consequently four processes by which a singu- 
lar is converted into a plural : 1. The addition of s or es ; 2. 
By a change of vowel; 3. By the addition of n ; 4. By the 
addition of r. Notwithstanding this, it is very certain that 
the plural of a new word would not be formed in en^ like 
oxen; nor yet by a change of vowel, like feet; nor yet by the 
addition of r , as childer ; but by the addition of the sound of 
5, 2', or es. This shows that the process by which ox is 
changed into oxen^ foot into feet^ and child into children^ is 
no longer in operation ; in other words, that it is obsolete^ 
while the process that changes father into fathers is still in 
operation ; in other words, current, or vital<) or existing. 

CASES of nouns. 

§ 166. Case denotes the relation which a Noun sustains to 
other words in the sentence, expressed sometimes by its Term- 
ination, and sometimes by its Position. Nouns have three 
Cases, the Nominative^ the Possessive or Genitive, and the 
Objective or Accusative. 

The Nominative Case is the Noun in its simple form, and 
denotes the relation of the Subject to the finite Verb ; as, 
^^ Man speaks;" '•'John is loved." 

The Possessive or Genitive Case denotes the relation of 
Possessipn or Origin, and is formed by adding to the simple 
form the letter s, with an apostrophe before it; as, ''•Man's 
virtue;" "•Milton's poems." 

The Objective or Accusative Case is the Noun in its 
simple form, and denotes the relation of the Object to the 
Verb, or the complement of a Preposition ; as, "• He struck 
the soldier ;" '< he lives in Boston.'''^ To these cases might 
be added the Dative and the Vocative. See § 176. 

§ 167. Case is from the Latin word casus, o. falling. The 
cases were supposed to fall or decline from the Nominative, 



198 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

which was written in a perpendicular, and therefore called 
rectus casus, the right case, while the others were written 
from that at different angles, and therefore called obliqui ca- 
sus, the oblique cases. The cases in the ancient languages 
were formed by varying the terminations, and thus expressing 
a few of the obvious and common relations. lii the Latin 
language nouns have six cases, in the Anglo-Saxon four. 
The Latin word Pater is declined as follows: 

Singular. PJural. 

Nominative, Pater, a father. Tdilres, fathers. 

Genitive, Patris, of a father. Patrum, of fathers. 

Dative, Patri, to a father. Patribus, to fathers. 

Accusative, Patrem, a father. T&ti'es, fathers. 

Vocative, Pater, O father. Patres, O fathers. 

Ablative, Fa,tie, from a father. Fsitxihus, from fathers. 

The Anglo-Saxon word End is declined as follov/s : 

Singular. ' Phiral. 

JSfom., Ende, an end. Endas, ends^ 

Gen., Endis, of an end. Enda, ends. 

Dat., Ende, to an end. Endum, to ends. 

Ace, Ende, an end. Endas, ends. 

§ 168. In the following example we have nine cases of the 
Laplandish language, expressed by variable terminations : 

Nom.,^o\x^ke,afoot. Ab., Jovl\.Q?>i,fromafoot. 

Gen., ^o\x\V.eB.,ofafoot, Friv., J oulket, taithont a foot. 

Dat., Joulkas, to afoot. • Mid., Joulkin, uith afoot. 

Ace, J oulken, a foot. Loc, Zo\x\kesn.,i7iafoot. 

Voc, Joulk, afoot. 

Some of the Indian dialects, instead of using inflections or 
prepositions to express the different relations, employ post- 
positions ; as, Hhoda, a God ; Hhoda-ka, of a God ; Hho- 
da-ko, to a God. For the difference between an Ancient and 
a Modern language, in the use of inflections and prepositions, 
see § 33. 

<§ 169. declension of english nouns. 
1. Book. 2. Men. 

Sing. Plur. Sing. Plur. 

Nom., Book, Books. Man, Men. 

JPoss., Book's, Books'. Man's, Men's. 

Obj. Book, Books. Man, Men. 



HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH GENITIVE. 199 
3. Fly. 4. Fox. 

Sing. Plur. Sing. Plur. 

Nom., Fly, Flies. Fox, Foxes. 

Poss., Fly's, Flies'. - Fox's, Foxes'. 

Obj., Fly, Flies. Fox, Foxes. 

5. Charles. 6. Goodness.. 

Sing. Plur. Sing. Plur. 

Nom., Charles, Charleses. Goodness, Wanting. 

JPoss., Charles's, Charleses'. Goodness', " 

Obj., Charles, Charleses. Goodness, '' 

INFLECTION OF THE GENITIVE. 

§ 170. When the nominative plural ends in s, the possess- 
ive plural is formed by adding only an apostrophe ; when it 
does not end in 5-5 the possessive plural is formed by adding 
both the apostrophe and the s. See examples of declension. 

Generally, when the singular ends in ss, or in letters of a 
similar sound, and the next word begins with s, or when there 
is an s also in the penult, the apostrophio s is omitted, but 
the apostrophe is added ; as. For righteousness- sake ; for 
conscience^ sake ; Moses^ disciples. 

§ 171. When the letter 5, added as the sign of the possess- 
ive, will coalesce with the terminating sound of the Noun, 
it is pronounced in the same syllable ; as, John's ; but if it 
will not coalesce, it adds another syllable to the word ; Thom- 
as's, pronounced as if spelled Thomasis. There would be 
some advantage in returning to this mode of spelling, as 
.some eminent writers have done. 

JIISTORY OF THE ENGLISH GENITIVE. 

§ 172. The following extracts will show the transition 
from the Anglo-Saxon Genitive to the present English Pos- 
sessive case: 

In Alfred's will, <'And ic bidde in Godes naman." And 
I bid in God's name. He died October 28, 9Q0. 

In a book called " Ormulum," written by one Orm, about 
1180, is the following: 

"And Cristess moder, Marye, was att tatt hridalles saete." 
" And Christ's mother, Mary, was at that hridal's feast." 

In an Elegy upon the death of Edward I., July 5, 1307, 
there is the following : 



200 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

" The pope is to his chaumber wende, 
For dole he might ne speke na more, 
And after cardenales he sonde, 
That much couthen of Cristes love." 

Chaucer, who died October 25, 1400, uses the Anglo- 
Saxon Genitive: 

" And when he in his chamber was alone, 
He down upon his beddis sette." 

" And I ride with Gold so red, 
And I have to do with landes law." 

Dame Berners (1496). 

In the 16th century, the words his, her, and their were 
introduced into use instead of the Genitive case : 

" V/here is this mankind '? Who lives to age 
Fit to be made Methusalem his page ?' ' . 

Dr. Donne. 

"And by Eonix her womanish subtlety" =jRoma;25 or 
Ronix^s womanish subtlety, '' About the Hollanders their 
throwing off the monarchy of Spain." — Wellwood, Memoirs. 
" My paper is Ulysses his bow, in which every man of wit or 
learning may try his strength." Addison, in this quotation, 
uses this form of expression, and elsewhere justifies it. " The 
same single letter s on many occasions does the office of a 
whole word, and represents the his and her of our forefa- 
thers." — Spect., No. 207. 

Yet opposition had been made to this innovation. "Ben 
Jonson, in his Grammar, which came out in 1640, after his 
death, says, ' Nouns ending in x, s, sh, g, and ch, take to the 
Genitive singular /, and to the plural e, which distinctions, not 
observed, brought in first • the monstrous syntax of the pro- 
noun his joining with a noun betokening a possessor.' But 
this ' monstrous syntax' became so general, that the repub- 
lisher of Ben Jonson, in 1662, taking upon him to correct 
his author, audaciously and tacitly put in room of this pas- 
sage : ' To the Genitive cases of all nouns denoting a pos- 
sessor is added '5, with an apostrophe, thereby to avoid the 
gross syntax of the pronoun his joining with a noun ; as, the 
Emperor^ s court, not the Emperor his court ;' thus foisting 
in his own conviction that '5 stands for his, and yet retain- 
ing the eiipression ' the gross syntax,' he has made old Ben 



NUMBER OF CASES. 



201 



write nonsense." — See Cambridge Philological Museum, vol. 
i., p. 670. 

THE TRUE NATURE OF THE GENITIVE FORM. 

§ 173. The origin of the error of regarding his as replaced 
by s and the apostrophe may be found in the historical state- 
ment just given. The similarity of sound between the real 
Anglo-Saxon Genitive of one of the three declensions, and the 
same noun with the addition of his, as Christis gospel and 
Christ his gospel, led to the error. In Old English, the Geni- 
tives in the other declensions took the form of the one ending 
in s. In opposition to this error, it should be stated, 1. The 
expression the Queen'' s majesty is not capable of being re- 
duced to the Queen his majesty. 2. In the form Az5, the s 
has precisely the power which it has in father'' s. Now his 
can not be said to arise out of he + his. 3. In all the lan- 
guages of the vast Indo-European tribes, except the Celtic, 
a Genitive ends in s just as it does in English ; so that 
even if the words father his would account for the English 
word father'' s, it would not account for the Sanscrit Genitive 
pad-as^ of a foot, the Latin dent-is^ &c. 

THE NUMBER OF CASES. 

§ 174. It has been a question how many cases should be 
admitted in the English Language. If a change of termina- 
tion is essential to constitute a case^ there are but two cases, 
the nominative and the possessive, which are the only two 
forms of the noun ; as, John, John's. Indeed, strictly, there 
is but one case oy falling from the nominative. 

But if, on the other hand, it should be claimed that the 
use of a preposition constitutes a case, then there must be as 
many cases as there are prepositions: above a maji; beneath 
a man; within a man; without a man must be cases as well 
as of a man ; to a man ; and from a man. 

§ 175. In the language of the Anglo-Saxons, the Genitive 
Cases of the words Smith (Smi^), ende (ende), were respect- 
ively Smithes [Smiles), endes, while the Nominative Plurals 
were respectively Smithas (^Smi^as), endas. A process of 
change took place, by which the Vowel of the last Syllable 



202 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

in each word was ejected. The result was, that the forms 
of the Genitive Singular and the Nominative Plural, origin- 
ally different, became one and the same, so that the identity 
of the t'^o Cases is an accident. This fact relieves the En- 
glish Grammarian of a difficulty. The Nominative Plural 
and the Genitive Singular are, in the present language of 
England, identical; the apostrophe in father's being a mere 
matter of Orthography. However, there vras once a differ- 
ence. This modifies the statement that a change of form 
is essential to constitute a case. It may now stand thus, 
that for a change of case there must- be a change of form 
existing or presumed. 

Besides, both in the Latin and the Anglo-Saxon, different 
oases are attributed to Nouns when the terminations are the 
same. In practical Grammar, we are therefore justified, on 
the ground oi convenience, in admitting at least three cases, 
though there are but two terminations in Nouns, especially 
as we must have three terminational cases in some of the 
Pronouns. See § 208. 

§ 176. One word of English is probably a true Accusative 
in the strict sense of the term, viz., the word twain = two. 

Neut, Masc. Fein. 

No7n. and Ace, Twa, Twegen, Twa. 
Ahl. and Dat., Twam, Twam, Twsem, 
Gen. Twegra, Twegra, Twega. 

Besides the Nominative, Genitive, and Accusative cases, 
we have remnants of the dative form in the Anglo-Saxon 
language, in the words whilom and seldom, as we have in the 
words him and whom. In the phrase ^^ Give it Mm'''' we 
have a dative case. The objective case and the preposition 
to are often equivalent to the Dative case in other languages. 
It might be a matter of convenience to add the Dative and 
, Vocative to the number of English cases. 

The following has been proposed : <' Norn., A man ; Gen., 
A man's; I>at., A man; Accus., A man; Voc, man! A 
MAN (N.) may beat another man (A.) if he can, hut it is A 
man's (G.) part to give Him, i. e., A man (D.), fair play. 
Man ! (V.) hold your hand. Here we have the agent, or 
Nominative, that beats ; the patient, or Accusative, that is 



THE ANALYSIS OF CASES. 203 

^. . . 
beaten ; the person sfcnding in the relation of possession, or 

Genitive, and of giving, or D alive ; finally, in that of being 

addressed by another, or Vocative." ^ 

\ ■ ■• 

THE ANALYSIS OP CASES. 

§ 177. In the word children^ we are enabled to separate 
the w^ord into three parts : 1. The;iRoot child; 2. The Plural 
signs r and en ; 3. The signs of the 1§-enitive case. In this 
instance, the word is said to be analyzed, since we not only 
take it to pieces, but also give the respective powers of each 
of its elements, stating which denotes the case and which the 
number. 

The import of the Genitive case may often be exp^i^ssed 
by the particle of. Thus, for m-an's wisdom we can say the 
wisdom of man. This has been called the analytical, or the 
Norman possessive or genitive, and is commonly used, espe- 
cially in the plural number, when the possessor is inanimate. 
A Noun with the sign 's is called the Saxon possessive, be- 
cause it is a contraction of the Saxon Genitive in es, is. The 
mark ' is called apostrophe^ because it is a turning off or 
omission of the vowel e or i. It is, however, used as the 
sign of the possessive case, where there is no omission of the 
vowel, as in the plural number. It should be added, before 
closing this section, that though the import of the analytical 
Genitive is often much the same as that o\ the Saxon Gen- 
itive, it is often different. If instead of 'Man''s first disobe- 
dience, and the fruit of that forbidden tree, Milton had writ- 
ten. Of the first disobedience of man, and that forbidden 
tree^s fruit, his meaning would have been different from what 
it now is. He now calls on the muse to sing of man's first 
act of disobedience as distinguished from all his other acts, 
and the fruit of that forbidden tree as distinguished from all 
other trees ; whereas, the other arrangement of the words 
would have laid the stress on man as distinguished from all 
other beings, and on the fruit as distinguished from the rest 
of the tree. The Paradise Lost of Milton is not in import 
exactly the same as Milton^ s Paradise Lost. In the former, 
attention is called to the author ; in the latter, to the work. 



4 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 



^ CHAPTER III. 

* THE ADJECTIVE. 

§ 178. An Adjective is a word which can not by itself 
form the Subject of a proposition, but which can form the 
Predicate of one, and can also qualify or limit the meaning 
of a Noun ; as, '' Man is mortal ;" '' an honest man ;" ^' the 
second ring." See § 399. 

Adjectives, from the Latin word adjectivus {added to^, 
have been called Attributives, because they denote qualities 
attributed to things. An Adjective denotes a concrete qual- 
ity of a Noun, without any other circumstance. Thus, in 
the phrase ^' he is an eloquent man," the word eloquent with- 
draws the attention from every other circumstan.ce, and fixes 
it upon his eloquence. It is sometimes called a noun adjec- 
tive, because it is the name of a quality. Unlike the Anglo- 
Saxon, the English adjective preserves the same form in both 
numbers, and in all genders and cases. See § 375, 3 ; 380. 

CLASSIFICATION. 

§ 179. Adjectives may be divided into two classes : 

I. Those which denote a Variable quality or limitation, one 
which is capable of increase or diminution ; as, Brave, good. 

II. Those which denote an Invariable quality or limita- 
tion, one which is incapable of increase or diminution ; as, 
Wooden, brazen. 

§ 180. Another division has been proposed, by which Ad- 
jectives have been distributed into. First, Those which fix 
the attention on the quality or property which they describe, 
whether this property be an object of the bodily sense ; as, 
Green, loud; or of the mental perceptions and affections ; as, 
Dear, kind, true. Among these, the most characteristic are 
those which are not obviously derived from any other word ; 
as. Good, soft, bright. Words of this class do not contain 
in themselves any reference to any other word ; but we have 



CLASS.FICATIONOF ADJECTIVES. £05 

various derivatives formed from each of them ; as, Goodness^ 
wisdom^ truth, soften, brighten, redden. 

Besides the Adjectives that are apparently primitive in our 
own language, we have many Adjectives of quality derived 
from the Latin ; as, Long, large, grand. From these we 
either form abstract Substantives ; as, Length, largeness ; or 
we Anglicize the abstract term already formed in another 
language ; as. Chastity, grandeur. In other cases, abstract 
words have been established in our own language of a prim- 
itive character ; as, Joy, virtue ; and we have Adjectives of 
quality derived from them ; as. Joyful, vii tuous. Abstract 
terms are never strictly primitive, but are formed from some 
concrete substantive or verb. Joy comes from the French 
joye, and the Italian gioia from the Latin gaudium, whose 
root is gaudeo. Virtus is an old Roman abstraction from vir. 

The Second class under this distribution are those which 
have a manifest and distinct reference to some Primitive; 
either a concrete substantive ; as, wooden, fatherly ; or to a 
verb ; as, ^zVesome, seemly. These may be called Adjectives 
OF Relation. Various terminations are employed in the 
formation of such terms : some of Teutonic origin ; as, Love/z/, 
{aithful, faithless, witty, sleep?/, trouble56>me, sheepish, gold- 
en ; others of Latin extraction ; as, Gracio2^5, ethercfl^/, angu- 
\ar, adamantme, visionary, promissor?/, angelzc, ofFensrt^e, 
changeaZ>/e, accessi^/e, and others. The characteristic of 
the present class of adjectives is, that they have a distinctly 
felt reference to their primitives. When, for instance, we 
speak cf a heechen bowl, of an insular climate, oi fatherly 
duties, there is a reference, distinctly perceived, to the sub- 
stantives from which the adjectives come, and we are con- 
scious that we mean a bowl made of beech, the climate of an 
island, the duties of a father. 

This mental reference to the primitive, when we use a 
derivative adjective, admits of very numerous and various de- 
grees of consciousness and distinctness, implying either the 
material, as earthen; or some participation of substance or 
quality, earthy, earthly ; or some actual or metaphorical as- 
similation ; as, childish, homely. 

This reference, too, is felt in very different degrees by dif- 



20J3 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

Hi 
ferfiit persons, according to their habits of thought and their 

knowledge of the languages. It is, therefore, difficult, or per- 

hap| irnpossible, to draw any very distinct line between the 

two classes of adjectives. But in some cases the relative 

character is clear and immovable. 

1. No adjectives are more decidedly relative than those ex- 
pressing the MATERIAL of which a thing is made ; as, dpyvpeog, 
argenteusj silbern. The French are destitute of these terms ; 
they say une vaisselle d^argent. In English we form such 
adjectives from the substantive by adding the termination 
-en ; as, golden^ bra^zen. Formerly this mode of derivation " 
was more extensively used than it is i4ow. Milton, in the 
Comus, talks of cedarn alleys. Treen platters (tree-n) = 
wooden plates, was a usual term at the time when the thing 
itself was familiar. 

2. But many words do not admit of this adjectival termina- 
tion, and we use the Substantive adjectively, without any 
change ; as, ^^ an iron, crovzn ;" ^^ a stone coffin ;" ''a glass 
bottle." The analogy of these cases has led us to do the 
same, even where the adjective exists. Thus we speak of an 
oak floor, not oaken; of a brass candlestick,, not brazen; of 
silkj not silkeii stockings. In this way almost every sub- 
stantive in the language can be used as an adjective without 
modification ; as, '' a bottle nose ;" "a university man ;" and 
the same usage is often extended, at least colloquially, to 
compound words and phrases. Falstaff tells Prince Hal to 
^' go hang himself in his own heir-apparent garters ;" and 
Campbell uses similar f)rms in the line 

^ " Like angel visits, few and/ar between.''^ 

3. We are much more at a loss to express predominant 
QUALITIES or INGREDIENTS. We might say a stony field, but 
it is not common to say, or, at least, to print, an irony or a 
limy soil. We might say a soil containing iron, or in which 
lime is « large ingredient. But for compactness of expres- 
sion, borrowing from the Latin, we say o. ferruginous soil, 
and a calcareous stratum. In the same way, instead of say- 
ing a message by icord of mouth, we say a verbal message. 

Some adjectives of English form and origin have fallen 
into disuse in modern times, as Latin radicals and termina- 



CLASSIFICATION OF ADJECTIVES. 207 

tions have become more familiar. This process, however, 
like most of those which occur in the progress of Language, 
seems to have gone on very capriciously. We use fatherly ^ 
motherly^ brotherly^ as readily as paternal^ maternal, frater- 
nal. Sisterly has no Latin equivalent. Sonly is never 
used, though filial does not fully represent it. Daughterly 
is not common. 

4. Adjectives are not derived from substantives only, but 
from other words, and especially from verbs. Of this kind 
we have but few English Adjectives, unless we consider par- 
ticiples as such. In most cases we have the alternative be- 
tween a Latin adjective and an English participle. We 
speak of hereditary rights, and of rights inherited from our 
ancestors ; of native talents, or of talents born with a man ; 
of derivative claims, or claims flowing from others ; of strik- 
ing or of impressive descriptions ; of a radiant or a Z^e^^m- 
mo- countenance. Words like these, in pairs, of which one 
is of Latin and the other of Saxon origin, are not exactly 
synonymous. Thus, terrestrial is not precisely equivalent to 
earthy, nor silvan to ivoody, nor feminine to womanly, nor 
timely to temporary. In a language which so much borrows 
its adjectives from another, their meaning is naturally liable 
to be mistaken by those whose learning does not extend be- 
yond their mother tongue. 

§ 181. Adjectives have also been divided into, I. Descrip- 
tive Adjectives, which express some quality or condition of 
the noun; as, "A good man;" " an oj?e^ book." II. Defini- 
tive Adjectives, which define or limit the meaning of the 
noun to which they are applied ; as, '' Several men ;" <' those 
books." 

§ 182. 1. A Proper Adjective, in distinction from a com- 
mon adjective, is one that is derived from a proper name ; as, 
Roman, from Rome ; English, from England. 

2. A Numeral Adjective is one that is used to express a 
definite number'. There are three kinds of numeral adjec- 
tives, namely, Cardinal ; as, One, two, three ; Ordinal ; as, 
First, second, third ; Multiplicative ; as, Single, double or 
tivofold, triple or three-fold. See § 193. 

3. A Pronominal Adjective is one that partakes of the 



208 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS, 

nature of a Pronoun and an Adjective, being sometimes used 
as the one, and sometimes as the other. The following have 
been called pronominal adjectives : This, that, these, those ; 
each, every, either; much, many, few, several ; all, none, 
any, one, other, another, such, some, both, &c. 

4. A Participial Adjective is one that has the form of a 
participle vi^ithout the idea of time ; as, A pleasing person. 

COMPARISON OF ADJECTIVES. 

§ 183. Those Adjectives which denote variable qualities 
have three degrees of Comparison : the Positive, the Compara- 
tive, and the Superlative. See § 179. 

1. The Positive degree of the quality is expressed by the 
adjective in the Simple Form ; as, wise, cold. 

The Comparative degree of the quality is expressed by add- 
ing T or er to the Positive Form ; as, iviser, colder. 

The 'Superlative degree of the quality is expressed by add- 
ing st or est to the Positive Form ; as, wisest, cold-est. The 
Comparative refers to two persons or things, and denotes a 
greater degree of a quality in the one than in the other. 
The Superlative refers to more than two persons or things, 
and denotes the utmost degree of a quality. 

All monosyllables admit of r, 5^ or er, est, and dissyllables 
when the addition may be easily pronounced. This mode of 
comparison may be called Simple or Terminational Com- 
parison. When adjectives end in y after a consonant, the y 
is dropped and 2 substituted before er and est; as, lofty, lofti- 
er, loftiest. 

2. Every adjective susceptible of Comparison may also be 
compared by more and most ; as, more wise, most ivise. This 
mode of comparison may be called Compound Comparison. 

3. Diminution of quality, whether the adjective is of one 
syllable or more than one syllable, is formed by less and least; 
as, happy, less happy, least happy. 

The termination 4sh expresses a slight degree of a quali- 
ty ; as, reddish. More, most, less, or least, prefixed to an 
adjective, forms with it virtually a compound adjective. 

4. In the Sanscrit language, one form for the comparative 
was tara; as, Punya=pure ; puny a4ar a ^= purer. One of 



COMPARISON OF ADJECTIVES. 



209 



the forms of the superlative was ishta. In the Greek, one 
of the forms for the comparative was repog ; as, ao(j)(x)Tepog. 
One of the forms for the superlative was toTog ; as, rjdtGTog. In 
the Latin, one of the forms of the comparative is or ; as, 
firmi-or : one of the forms of the superlative ssimus ; as, 
formosissimus. Mceso-Gothic, spediza = later ; spedists = 
last. In the Anglo-Saxon, for the comparative and superla- 
tive there were two forms, viz., or and re, and ost and este. 
There was also, sometimes, the change of a vowel ; as, Lang, 
lengre, lengest, long ; geong, gyngre, gyngest, young ; 
heah, hyrre, hyhst, high ; eald, yldre, yldest, old. Of this 
change, the word last quoted is a still existing specimen ; as, 
Old, elder, and older, eldest and oldest. Between these two 
forms there is a difference of meaning, elder being used as a 
Substantive, and having a plural form, elders. 

,5. The previous paragraph has stated that in Anglo-Saxon 
there are two forms for the comparative and the superla- 
tive Degrees, one re and este, the other in or and ost, respect- 
ively. Now the first of these was the form taken by Adjec- 
tives ; as, se scearpre sweord^=the sharper sword; and se 
scearpeste sweord = the sharpest sword. The second, on the 
other hand, was the form taken by Adverbs ; as, se sweord 
scyr^ scearpor = the sword cuts sharper, and se sweord scyr^ 
scearpost = the sword cuts sharpest. 

IRREGULAR COMPARISON. 

§ 184. The following Adjectives have Different Words 
for expressing different degrees of Comparison : 

Positive. Comparative. ' Superlative. 

Good^ , Better, Best. 

Bad, evil, or ill^ Worse, Worst. 

Much or many, More, Most. 

Little, Less, Lesser, Least. 

Good and better are related logically in the ideas they ex- 
press, but not etymologically. They are related in their use, 
but not in their origin. Better and best have lost their posi- 
tive, if they ever had any, which has been replaced by good, 
a word of a different origin. It is stated that the Persian 
language has beh=^good^ and behter for the comparative. 

O 



210 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. . 

The same general account may be given of the relations of 
bad din.i worse, of many and more. They are etymologically 
different words. It is also said that the Persian language 
has bad, and comparative badter. The Moeso-Gothic form 
oi worse is vairsiza ; the Anglo-Saxon vyrsa, Old Saxon 
wirso, Old High-German wirsiro. In other languages, the 
words corresponding to good, better, best, show a similar want 
of relationship in their origin. Icelandic god, bettri, bestr; 
Moeso-Gothic goths, batiza, batist ; Danish god,bedre,beste ; 
Swedish god, b'dttre, bast ; Dutch goed, beter, best ; Friesic 
god, bettre, beste ; Anglo-Saxon god, betra, betst. Much is 
etymologically related to more. Moeso-Gothic mikils ; An- 
glo-Saxon my eel ; Scotch muckle ; Norse mibk, miog ; En- 
glish m«^c^; Moeso-Gothic mazza; Old High-German mero ; 
Anglo-Saxon ma; Old English moe ; English more. It is 
doubtful whether little and less are etymologically related to 
each other. 

§ 185. The following Adjectives have Irregular termina- 
tions for expressing the degrees of comparison : 



Positive. 


Comparative. 


Superlative. 


Far, 


Farther, 


Farthest, Farthermost. 


Fore, 


Former, 


First, Foremost. 


(Forth), 


Further, 


Furthest. 


Aft, 


After, 


Aftermost. 


Late, 


Latter, Later, 


Last, Latest. 


Near, 


Nearer, 


Nearest, Next. 


Low, 


Lower, 


Lowest, Lowermost: 


Hind, 


Hinder, 


Hindermost, Hindmost. 



Farther means more far, or more distant. It is derived 
from the word far, which appears in the following forms : 
fairra, Moeso-Gothic ; feor, Anglo-Saxon ; f'er, Old High- 
German. The proper comparative is formed without the th, 
which is inserted either because far-er is inharmonious, or 
from the word being confounded with further. Last is only 
a contraction of latest. By comparing this word with best, 
we discover that the sound of t has been lost. The full forms 
would be lat-est (latt-est) and bett-est. Some of these Adjec- 
tives are redundant, though in most cases there is a difference 
of meaning. Thus, foremost refers to place ; first, to time ; 



COMPARISON OF ADJECTIVES. 211 

latest^ to time ; last^ to order. Near^ although in meaning 
an Adjective of the positive degree, is, in respect to its form, 
a comparative. The Anglo-Saxon form is neah for the pos- 
itive ; nea-rre, nea-r^ and ny-r for the comparatives. Hence 
nearer is, in respect to its form, a double comparative, nea-r-er. 

DEFECTIVE COMPARISON. 

§ 186. The following Adjectives are Defective in their com- 
parison : Out (adv.), com.. Outer, Utter; sup., Outermost, 
Utmost. In (prep.), com.. Inner ; sup.. Innermost, Inmost. 
Up (adv.), com.. Upper ; sup.. Uppermost, Upmost; com., 
Hither ; sup., Hithermost ; com., Mether ; sup., Nethermost ; 
com.. Under ; sup.. Undermost. Rear (noun), sup.. Rear- 
most. Front (noun), sup., Frontmost ; pos.. Mid; sup.. 
Midmost; pos.. Middle ; sup., Middlemost; pos., North; 
sup., Northmost, &c. 

The comparatives Former and latter, or hinder, upper and 
under, or nether, inner and outer, or utter, after and hither, 
and the Latin superior Sind inferior, anterior and posterior, 
interior and exterior, prior and ulterior, senior and junior, 
major and minor, can not, like other comparatives, be con- 
strued with the conjunction than. They are comparatives in 
form, but positives in nature. 

It is questionable whether Under, hither, nether, upper, 
are to be regarded as comparatives in meaning ; at least they 
have the comparative form. The current opinion is, that in 
words like uppermost, the superlative is formed simply by an- 
nexing the adverb most, instead of prefixing it, as in other 
cases. But, in opposition to this opinion, let especial notice 
be taken of the Moeso-Gothic {onns fru7na= first, aftuma 
= last ; and of the Anglo-Saxon forms, aftema = aftermost, 
upma = upmost, hindema = hindmost. These account for the 
m. Add to this, with an excess of expression, the letters st. 
This accounts for the whole form ; as, mid-m-ost, in-m-ost. 
This is Grimm's explanation. In furthermost, innermost, 
hindermost, there is a true addition of most, and an excess 
of Inflection, a Superlative form being added to a word in 
the comparative degree. In Former a Comparative sign is 
added to a word in the Superlative Degree. 



212 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS 



CERTAIN FORMS IN -E R. 

§ 187. 1st. Certain Pronouns ; as, Ei-th-er, nei4h-er, ivhe- 
'th-er^ o-th-er. 

2d. Certain Prepositions and Adverbs ; as, Ov-er, und-er, 
aft-er. 

3d. Certain Adjectives, with the form of the comparative, 
but the power of the Positive Degree ; as, Upp-er, und-er^ 
inn-er, out-er, hard-er. 

4th. All Adjectives of the Comparative Degree ; as, WiS' 
er, strong-er^ bett-er. 

Now what is the idea common to all these words, express- 
ed by the sign -er , and connecting the four divisions into one 
class ? Bopp, who has best generalized the view of these 
forms, considers the fundamental idea to be that of duality. 
In the Comparative degree, of which the affix in question is 
more particularly applied, we have a relation between one 
object and some other object like it, or a relation between 
two single elements of comparison : A is wiser than B. In 
the Superlative degree we have a relation between one ob- 
ject and all others like it ; or a relation of one single and one 
complex element of comparison : A is wiser than B, C, Z), 
&c. '' As in comparatives a relation between two and many 
lies at the bottom, it is natural that their suffixes should be 
transferred to other words ; the chief notion is individualized 
through that of duality or plurality." — Bopp. 

The most important proofs of this view are, 

1. The Sanscrit forms, kataras = ivhich of two persons 7 
a Comparative form ; Katamas = which of more than two 
persons ? a Superlative form. Similarly, ekataras == one 
of two persons ; ekatamas = one of more than two persons. 

2. The Greek forms, iicdTspog = each or either out of 
two persons ; sKaarog = each or any out of more than two 
persons. 

The more important of the specific modifications of the 
general idea involved in the comparison of two objects are, 

1. Contrariety ; as, Inner ^ outer ^ under ^ upper ^ over. In 
Latin, the words for right and left end m-er ; dexter^ sin- 
ister. 



CERTAIN FORMS IN -ER. 



213 



2. Choice in the way of an Alternative ; as, Either, nei- 
ther, lohether, other. 

An extension of the reasoning probably explains forms like 
the Greek d[j,(j)6-rep-og, and the plural possessive forms vo)t- 
rep-og, 7][ie-TEp-og, &c., which, like our own forms in -r lou-r, 
you-r), correspond in termination with the comparative de- 
gree (ao(pG)-Tep-og, ivisery Words, also, like hither and thith- 
er, are instances of what is probably the effect of a similar 
association of ideas. 

§ J 88. Either, neither, other, whether. It has just been 
stated that the general fundamental idea common to all these 
forms is that of choice between two objects in the way of an 
alternative. Either and neither are common Pronouns. 
Other, like one, is a Pronoun capable of taking the Plural 
form of a Substantive (others), and also that of the Genitive 
case (the other's money, the other's bread). Whether is a 
Pronoun in the almost obsolete form, ^^ Whether (==which) oV 
the two do you prefer?" and a Conjunction in sentences like 
'^Whether will you do it or not ?" The use of the form oth- 
ers is recent. '^ They are takqn out of the way as all other.'''' 

— Job. . ; 

§ 189. Besides the terminational cotaparison, there is an- 
other which is expressed by certain Intensive words ; as, very, 
exceedingly, extremely ; as, '^^er^hard;" ^'extremely great ;^^ 
*' exceedingly kind." When very or any similar word is put 
before the Positive, it is called the Superlative of Eminence, 
to distinguish it from the Superlative of Comparison. Thus, 
" very bold''' is the Superlative of Eminence ; and boldest is 
the Superlative of Comparison. 

, § 190. Another mode of comparison, which in its nature 
is eminently superlative, is to select a certain class supe- 
rior to others as the starting point of comparison ; as, "King 
of kings ;" «' Lord of lords ;" " The bravest of the brave." 
As all men are not brave, brave is itself comparative ; and 
if the brave exceed the common herd, much more does the 
bravest exceed the common herd. 

§ 191. The comparison is sometimes modified by such 
terms as somewhat, little, still, almost, much, so. Thus, 
'•' Learning is valuable, prudence is more valuable, and virtue 



214 



ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 



more valuable stills The word still implies a continued 
gradation. Were this word suppressed, the sentence would 
imply that prudence and virtue are each more valuable than 
learning, but would assert no superiority of virtue to pru- 
dence. In the following line a progressive increase in the 
comparison is effected by the addition of yet after a compara- 
tive Adjective : 

" Short, shorter, shorter yet my breath I drew." 



ADJECTIVES NOT ADMITTING COMPARISON. 

§ 192. Adjectives whose qualities are Invariable, not sus- 
ceptible of increase or diminution, can not be compared (see 
§ 179). Among these are, 1. All words expressive of figtjre ; 
as. Circular, square. 2. Certain definitive Adjectives ; as, 
One, tiuo, several. 3. Certain words implying matter, time, 
place, person ; as. Wooden, daily, British, Mosaic. 4. 
Words denoting the highest or lowest degree of a quality. 
The following has been given as a list of Adjectives which 
do not properly admit of degrees : 



Almighty, 


Everlasting, 


Infinite, 


Safe, 


Certain, 


False, 


Lawful, 


Serene, 


Chief, 


FiUal, 


Leaden, 


Solid, 


Circular, 


Fluid, 


Living, 


Sound, 


Conscious, 


Free, 


Natural, 


Square, 


Continual, 


Fall, 


Paternal, 


Subject, 


Bead, 


Godly, 


Perfect, 


Supreme, 


Earthly, 


Golden, 


Perpetual, 


Triangular 


Empty, 


Gratuitous, 


Reverend, 


True, 


Extreme, ' 


Heavenly, 


Right, 


Universal, 


Eternal, 


Human, 


Royal, 


Void. 



Some of these Adjectives, however, are frequently found in 
the comparative or superlative form : 

*' But first and chief est with thee bring." 

Milton, II Penseroso. 

Thus, too, we find '^ more perfect and ^^most pei'fect^^^ ''full- 
er^'' and ^^ fullest,''^ although it is evident that nothing can be 
more perfect than perfection, or more full than fullness. 
'' These forms of expression, though not logically correct, may 
perhaps be reconciled to our perceptions of propriety by sup- 



NUMERALS. 



215 



posing that, in such instances, the Adjective, in its Positive 
state, is not employed so as to denote absolutely the highest 
degree of the quality, but only an approximation to that de- 
gree. Thus, when we say that one thing is fuller than an- 
other, we must mean that the one thing approaches nearer to 
fullness, or perfection, than another, presupposing that neither 
of the things is absolutely full." — Grant's Grammar, p. 54. 



CHAPTER IV. 

NUMERALS. 

§ 198. Numerals express the relation of Number and 
Quantity. They are divided into the following classes : 

I. Cardinals, which express a definite number, and answer 
the question Hoiv many ? as, One, two, three, four. The 
word one is naturally singular. The rest are naturally plural. 

II. Ordinals, which denote a series, and answer the ques- 
tion Which one in the series? as. First, second, third, fourth. 
The ordinal first is a superlative form derived from the root 
fore. The word second is derived from the Latin secundus. 
The remainder of the Ordinals are derived from the cardinal 
numerals by the addition of the sound of th, subject to slight 
variations. In third th becomes d. In fifth the vov/el is 
shortened. In third there is the transposition of the letter r. 

III. MuLTiPLicATivES, which show the number of parts of 
which a whole is composed, and answer the question Hoiv 
many fold? as. Single, double, triple, four-fold. 

IV. Numeral Adverbs, which answer the question Hoiv 
often ? as. Once, twice, thrice, four times. 

§ 194. In Compound Numerals of the ordinal series, it is 
only the last number that takes the ordinal termination; as, 
the thirty 'third year; the five hundred and twenty-fifth year. 
We may compare this with our mode of adding a Genitive 
termination to such phrase as the King of England ; the King 
of England^ crown. As we consider King-of-England a 
sort of compound substantive, and add the mark of the Geni- 
tive to the end of it, so we con^idiQY five-hundred- and-twenty- 



216 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

five a Compound Adjective, and are satisfied with having the 
mark of its class being put on to the end. When units are 
combined with tens, they are placed either, ^rs^, with " and," 
or, last^without ''and" {twenty-four ^ ox four-and'twenty) ; but 
after a hundred the smaller number is always last; as, a 
hundred and twenty-four. 

§ 195. To express number distributively, namely, in par- 
ties of so many together, the cardinal number is repeated ; 
as, Tivo and two, three and three. '' And he called the 
twelve, and began to send them two and two.'^'' — Mark, vi., 
7, Tyndale's translation. '' We are not to stay altogether, 
but to come by him, vv^here he stands, by ones, by twos, and 
by threes?^ — Shakspeare. Here there are plural forms. 

*' The sun has long been set, 

The stars are out by twos and threes ; 
' The little birds are piping yet 

Among the bushes and trees." — Wordsworth. 

§196. Numerals are Usually classed with Adjectives, and 
called Numeral Adjectives. Like Pronouns, they can be di- 
vided, according to their signification and form, into Sub- 
stantive, Adjective, and Adverbial Numerals ; as, A hund- 
red ; ten men ; tenthly. 

In addition to the Definite Numerals mentioned above, 
there is still another class, usually reckoned among pronom- 
inal Adjectives, which may be called Indefinite Numerals, 
since they do not, like the others, express a definite number 
or quantity ; as. Some, all, many, few, much, little, more, 
less, several, whole, enough, other, another, only, alone, any, 
none^ aught, naught, something, nothing, somewhat, &c. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE ARTICLES. 

§ 197. It is a question whether the words An and The should 
be regarded as a distinct part of speech, called the Article, 
or should be classed with Adjectives. An is very closely re- 
lated in origin and power to the word one, a numeral Adjec- 



THE ARTICLES. 217 

tive. The, both in its original and its present power, is 
closely related to the word that, a pronominal Adjective. 

RELATION OF THE ARTICLES TO THE PROPOSITION. 

§ 198. Still, though they agree severally with o^e and that, 
they also differ from them. They can not, either of them, like 
one and that, form the predicate of a proposition. Nor can 
either of them stand by itself as the subject of a proposition. 
The can enter into a proposition only as the sign of Defini- 
tude ; as, The man is mortal. An or a can enter into a prop- 
osition only as a sign of Indefinitude ; as, A man is mortal. 
The Article can be only, a Secondary part of speech. The 
word is from the Latin oMiculus = a joint. 

( 

THE ARTICLE "AN" OR "A." -/ 

§ 199. 1. The Article An is the Anglo-Saxon a'n, the Scotch 
ane, the Latin unus, and the Numeral one. But though it is' 
the same in derivation as the numeral one, it differs from it 
in meaning. A man is more indefinite than one man. The 
word an can not be used by itself ; the word one can. 

2. In the Anglo-Saxon, an was used before consonantal 
sounds as well as vowels ; but in the English language the 
n is omitted before the former, and retained before the lat- 
ter ; as, A man ; an eagle ; a heart ; an hour ; a union ; a 
oneness. The last two words commence with consonantal 
sounds, the first with that of y, and the second with that of 
w. In the word hour the h is silent. 

3. The words an and a are identical, the change from an 
to a before a consonantal sound having been made by a eu- 
phonic process. It is used when we speak of some single 
object without defining it. For this reason, in comparison 
with the, it is called the Indefinite Article. It is definite 
only with respect to number. It can occur only when con- 
joined with other words ; as, A man ; a woman. Like the 
Adjective, it is the same for all genders and cases." 

THE ARTICLE "THE." 

§ 200. 1. The word The is called the Definite Article, be- 
cause it specifies or defines the Substantive with which it is 



218 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

conjoined; as. The man; the woman. By these expressions 
some particular man or woman is signified. It is the same 
for all genders, and cases, and numbers. 

2. The Definite Article the has arisen out of the Demon- 
strative Pronoun pcet^ or, at least, out of a common root ; 
just as an and a has arisen out of the numeral one. In the 
Anglo-Saxon there was a form, pe, undeclined, and common 
to all the cases of all the numbers. As an or a is less definite 
than one^ so is the less definite than that. Were we for the 
to substitute that^ and to say " that man with that long 
beard," the phrase would more particularly imply real pres- 
ence, and, indirectly, a sort of contrast with this man with 
this long beard. An and one^ the and that^ express different 
degrees of definitude. 

ABSENCE OF ARTICLES FROM CERTAIN LANGUAGES. 

§ 201. In Greek there is no Indefinite, in Latin there is 
neither an Indefinite nor a Definite Article. In the former 
language they say avrjp Tig = a certain man. In the Latin, 
the words filius regis mean equally the son of the king, a 
son of a king., a son of the king, or the son of a king. In 
Moeso-Gothic and in Old Norse there is an equal absence of 
the Indefinite Article. In these the Greek is expressed by 
the Gothic root sum. 

Now, as it is very evident that, as far as sense is concern- 
ed, the words some man, a certain man, and a man are, there 
or thereabout, the same, an exception may be taken to the 
statement that in Greek and Moeso-Gothic there is no In- 
definite Article. It may, in the present state of the argu- 
ment, be fairly said that the words sum and riq are pronouns 
with a certain sense, and that a and an are no more ; and, 
consequently, that in Greek the Indefinite Article is rL<;, in 
Moeso-Gothic sum, and in English a or an. A distinction, 
however, is to be made. In the expression av7}p rig = a certain 
man, or a man, and in the expression sum mann, the words 
sum and ti<; preserve their natural and original meaning, while 
in a man, or an ox, a and an are used in a secondary sense. 
A ^principal office of the articles is to reduce a noun substaU' 
five from a general to a particula^r signification. 



THE PRONOUN. £19 



THE ORIGIN OF ARTICLES. 

§ 202. The origin of Articles seems to be uniform. The 
German em, the Danish en^ stand to one in the samxC rela- 
tion in which an does. The French un^ Italian and Span- 
ish Mno^ are similarly related to unus=07ie. And as in En- 
glish the, in German der, in Danish den, come from the De- 
monstrative pronouns, so in the Romanic languages are the 
French Ze, the Italian il and lo, and the Spanish el, derived 
from the Latin Demonstrative «7Ze. 

In no language, in its oldest stage, is there ever a word giv- 
ing, in its primary sense, the ideas oi a and the. As tongues 
become modern, some word with a similar sense is used to 
express them. In the course of time a change of form takes 
'place corresponding to the change of meaning, e. g., one be- 
comes an, and afterward a. Then it is that Articles become 
looked upon as separate parts of speech. No invalidation of 
this statement is drawn from the Greek language. Although 
the Etymology gives us 6, ?J, to, ho, he, to, as the Definite 
Article, the Syntax informs us that in the oldest stage of 
the language 6 (lw)=the, had the power of ovrog {liowtos) 
= this. 

§ 203. " There is a the which originated from the Anglo- 
Saxon py, that, and is different from the the which originated 
from the Anglo-Saxon pe. The latter is the common arti- 
cle. The former is the the in expressions like all the more, 
all the better = more by all that, better by all that, and the 
Latin phrases eo majus, eo melius.'''^ — ^Latham. 



CHAPTEE VL 

THE PRONOUN. 



§ 204. A Pronoun is a word which can be u^ed instead of 
a Noun, either as the Subject or the Predicate of a proposi- 
tion ; as, " The man is happy ; he is benevolent." Here he 



220 ETYMOLOGICALFORMS. 

is used instead of man as the subject of the proposition. *^I 
am heP Here he is used as the predicate of the proposition. 

1. The term, pronoun is derived from the Latin word pro- 
nomen, which signifies for a noun. Pronouns have been 
called Substitutes, inasmuch as some of them stand not only 
for nouns, but also for adjectives, for a sentence or part of a 
sentence, or a series of propositions. They are Relational 
words. They do not, like substantives, express the idea of 
an object, but only the relation of an object to the speaker, 
since they show whether the object is the speaker himself (the 
first person) or the person or thing addressed (the second per- 
son), or the person or thing spoken of (the third person) ; e. g., 
I (the teacher) give to you (Vhq scholar) it (the book). 

2. It has been said that pronouns are employed to prevent 
the tiresome repetition of names. But they do something 
more. For, as there is hardly any name peculiar to one in- 
dividual, the employment of a name belonging to more per- 
sons than one would not so clearly specify the object as the 
appropriate pronoun ; nor would it have that simplicity and 
energy which accompany the pronoun. If, instead of saying 
" / am the God," Moses had said, '' The Lord is the God," 
or, instead of saying " Thou art the man," Nathan had said, 
''''David is the man," the energy of the expression would 
have been destroyed. 

3. " They are strange and mighty words, these two little 
pronouns I and Thou, the mightiest, perhaps, in the whole 
compass of language. The word pronoun is not quite strictly 
appropriate to them; for, as the great master of the philosophy 
of language, William Humboldt, observes, ' They are not the 
mere substitutes of the names of the persons for whom they 
stand, but involve the personality of the speaker and of the 
person spoken to, and the relation between them.' I is the 
word which man has in common with God, the Eternal Self- 
existing I AM. Thou is the word with which God and his 
Conscience speak to man, the word with which man speaks 
and communes with God and his neighbor. All other words 
without these two would belong to things. / and thou are 
inseparable from personality, and bestow personality on what- 
soever they are applied to. They are the two primary ele- 



PERSONAL PRONOUNS. 221 

ments and conditions of all speech, which implies a speaker 
and a person spoken to ; and they are indispensable comple- 
ments each of the other, so that neither idea could have been 
called forth in man without the help of its mate." — Guesses 
at Truth, first series, p. 189. 

FIRST CLASSIFICATION OF PRONOUNS, 

§ 205. Pronouns may conveniently be divided into the fol- 
lowing classes : I. Personal. II. Demonstrative. III. Rel- 
ative. IV. Interrogative. V. Adjective. VI. Adverb- 
ial. The last will be noticed under Adverbs. 

second classification. 

§ 206. Pronouns have also been divided into three Classes: 
I. Substantive Pronouns. II. Adjective Pronouns. III. Ad- 
verbial Pronouns. The First class comprises those which 
can not combine with substantives as attributives, but can 
stand for them as Substitutes. Thus, the word I can not 
stand with a noun to qualify or limit it, like an adjective. 
The Second class comprises those which can, like adjectives, 
combine with nouns attributively, to qualify or limit their 
meaning; as, " Such men are wise." The Third class com- 
prises those which can combine with verbs to modify their 
meaning; as, "He went thereP See § 316. 



CHAPTER VII. 

/ • 

PERSONAL PRONOUNS. 

§ 207. There are five Pronouns called Personal, because 
they are substitutes for nouns which denote Persons. They 
denote only the relation of personality. They are I, Thou, 
He, She, It. 

The reasons for including the pronoun it with the personal 
pronouns are historical rather than logical. Strictly, it is 
applied to things rather than to persons. The reasons for not 



222 



ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 



including the pronoun who, which denotes persons, in this 
class are found in its distinctive office of connecting sentences, 
in which it agrees v»rith the relative pronouns, and is classed 
with them. 

§ 208. Personal Pronouns admit oi Person, Number, Gen- 
der, and Case. 

Variety of form to distinguish the sex is confined to the 
third person. He is Masculine ; She is Feminine ; It is Neu- 
ter. Pronouns of the First and Second person are either 
Masculine or Feminine, according to the sex of the speaker 
or of the person addressed. 



DECLENSION OF PERSONAL PRONOUNS. 

Norn, Gen. or Poss. Accus. or Objec. 

p - ( Singular^ I, My or mine, Me. 



Plural, 



We, 



Our or ours, 



2d Pers. 



3d Pers. 



Us. 



Singular, Thou or you, Thy or thine, Thee. 

Plural, Ye o?' you, You or yours, You. 

( Masc, He, His, Him. 

Sing. < Fern., She, Her or hers, Her. 

( Neut., It, . . Its, It. 

^Plural, They, Their or theirs, Them. 



DECLENSION OF PERSONAL PRONOUNS IN THE AN- 
GLO-SAXON. 



§ 209. 

SJnguljur 

Nom., Ic, /. 
Gen.^ Min, of mc. 
Dat., Me, to me. 



FIRST PERSON. 
Dual. 

Wit, wyt, we two, 
Uncer, of us two. 
Unc, to us two. 



Ace.., Me, meh, mec, me. Unc, us two. 



Norn., Bu, thou. 
Gen., Bin, of thee. 
Dai., Be, to thee. 
Ace, Be, |5€h, fee, thee. 

M<asc 

Nom., He, he. 

Gen., His, of him. 

Dat., Him, hym, to him. 

Ace, Hine, hyne, him. 



SECOND PERSON. 

Git, gyt, ye two. 
Incer, of ye two. 
Inc, to two. 
Inc, you two. 



Plural. 

We, we. 

Ure user, of us. 

Us, to us. 

Us, usih, usic, us. 



Ge, ye. 

Eower, of you. 

Eow, to you. 

Eow, eowih, eowic, you. 



THIRD PERSON. 

Fem, Neut. 

Heo, she. Hit, hyt, it. 

Hire, hyre, of her. His, of it. 
Hire, hyre, to her. Him, to it. 



Plural of three' Genikrs. 

Hi, hig, they. 
Hira, heora, of them. 
Him, heom, to them. 



Hi, her. 



Hit, hyt, it. Hi, hig, them. 



PRONOUNS OF THE FIRST PERSON. £23 

§ 210. The current declension of the English Personal pro- 
nouns has been given from a regard to convenience, and not 
because it is an exhibition of true etymological relations. 
This may be the better understood from an inspection of the 
declensions of the Personal pronouns and of the Demonstrative 
pronouns in the Anglo-Saxon. See § 209 and § 200. 

PRONOUNS OF THE FIRST PERSON. 

§ 211. I and Me, are not etymologically related to each 
other. The true view of the words is, that they are defect- 
ive. / has no oblique, and me no nominative case. The 
same is true of thou and ye. J, in German ich^ Icelandic 
ek, corresponds with eyoy and ego of the classical languages ; 
eyw and ego, like J, being defective in the oblique cases. 
My is a form originally Accusative, but now used in a Geni- 
tive sense. Me, in Anglo-Saxon, was called a Dative form. 
The fact seems to be, that both my and me grew out of an 
Accusative form, meh, mec. 

That the sound of k originally belonged to the Pronouns 
me and thee, we learn not only from Anglo-Saxon mec, pec, 
meh:, }>eh, but from the Icelandic mik, pik, and the German 
mich, dich. This accounts for the form my, since y = ey, 
and the sounds y and g are allied. That both me and my 
can be evolved from mik, we see in the present Scandinavian 
languages, where very often, even in the same^ district, mig 
is pronounced both mey and mee. 

§ 212. We and Our, are not in the condition of land me. 
They are really in etymological relation to each other. This 
we infer from the alliance between the sounds of w and ou, 
and from the Danish forms vi (we), vor (our). 

§ 213. Us. Even us is in etymological relation to we. 
That we and our are so we have just seen. Now in Anglo- 
Saxon there were two forms of our, viz., Ure (==nostrum) 
and user (==noster). This connects we and us through our. 

§ 214. The following, then, are the changes in form of the 
pronoun of the first person : Singular. Nom,, I, undeclined ; 
Ace, Me; Gen., My; Form in n, mine. Plural. Nom., 
We) Ace, Us ; Form in r, our ; Form in s, ours. 



224 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 



SUBSTITUTION OF PLURALITY FOR UNITY. 

§ 215. We, in the Plural, is often used in place of I in the 
Singular, especially by Reviewers, Authors, Monarchs, &c. 
That a Eeviewer, in giving his individual opinions to the pub- 
lic, should substitute Plurality for Unity, is very natural, in- 
asmuch as he is associated with others, often in a junto or 
club, whose collective opinions he is supposed to utter. More- 
over, what he lacks in argument he can supply by calling in 
the aid of we instead of I. That a Ruler, embodying in 
himself the collected will of others ; that an Author or Ora- 
tor, in addressing his readers or hearers, who entertain the 
same views with himself, should use the plural term instead 
of the singular, is warrantable. 

" But there is a tribe of writers who are fond of merging 
their individuality in a multitudinous we. They think they 
may pass themselves off unnoticed, like the Irishman's bad 
guinea, in a handful of halfpence. In ordinary books, except 
when the author can be reasonably conceived to be speaking 
not merely in his own person, but as the organ of a body, or 
when he can fairly assume that his readers are going along 
with him, his using the plural we impresses one with much 
such feeling as a man's being afraid to lools: one in the face. 
In simpler times, before our self-consciousness became so sensi- 
tive, men were not afraid to say J, and they never dreamed 
that their doing so could be any offense to their neighbors. 
But now men are ready to become lie^ she, ity they — any 
thing rather than I. Even Dr. Chalmers, speaking of him- 
self, says. We formerly thought differently, hut have now 
changed our mindy — See Guesses at Truth, first series, p. 
143. 

PRONOUNS OF THE SECOND PERSON. 

§ 216. Thou, Thy, Thee, are etymologically related to 
each other. See § 209. Thee and thy were originally one 
and the same word (/e, pek, pec, Anglo-Saxon), and consti- 
tuted one and the same case, viz., the accusative. At pres- 
ent they form two cases, thee being an objective, and thy a 
possessive case. The following are the changes in form of 



PRONOUNS OF THE SECOND PERSON. 225 

pronoun of second person : Singular Nom., Thou ; Ace, 
Thee ; Gen., Thy ; Form in n^ Thine. Plural Nom., Ye ; 
Ace, You ; Form in r, Your ; Form in s, Yours. 

§ 217. You is, in usage, a nominative Form. Why 
should it not be treated as such by the Grammarian ? There 
is no absolute reason why it should not. The Anglo-Saxon 
form for you was eow ; for ye^ ge. Neither bear any sign 
of case at all ; so that, form for form, they are equally and in- 
differently Nominative or Accusative, as the habit of language 
may make them. Hence it, perhaps, is more logical to say 
that a certain form {jjou) is used either as a Nominative or 
Accusative, than to say that the Accusative case is used in- 
stead of a Nominative. It is clear that you can be used for 
ye only so far as it is Nominative in its power. 

§ 218. Ye. As far as the force of such expressions as get 
along with ye is concerned, the word ye is an Accusative 
form, and as such it is sometimes used by the poets : '' His 
wrath, which one day will destroy ye both." — Milton. In 
general practice, it is a true Nominative. 

Me. Carrying out the views just laid down, and admit- 
ting you to be a Nominative, or quasi-Nominative case, can 
we extend the reasoning to the word me, and call it a sec- 
ondary Nominative, inasmuch as such expressions as it is me 
= it is /, are common ! 

Now to call such expressions incorrect English is ta assume 
the point. No one says that c^est moi is bad French, and that 
c^est je is good. The fact is, that the whole question is a 
question of degree. Has or has not the custom been suffi- 
ciently prevalent to have transferred the forms me, ye, and you 
from one case to another, as it is admitted to have done with 
the forms him and whom, once Dative, but now Accusative ? 

§ 219. Observe, that the expression it is me =it is I, will 
not justify the use of it is him, it is her=^it is he, it is she. 
Me, ye, you are indifferent forms, i.e., Nominative as much 
as Accusative, and Accusative as much as Nominative. Him 
and her, on the other hand, are not indifferent. The m and 
r are, respectively, the signs of cases other than the Nomina- 
tive. Again, the^ reasons which allow the form you to be 
considered as a Nominative plural on the strength of its be- 

P 



226 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

ing used for ye^ will not allow it to be considered as a Nom- 
inative singular on the strength of its being used for thou. 

' SUBSTITUTION OF PLURALITY FOR UNITY. 

§ 220. The original use of you^ a Plural form, instead of 
tliou^ a Nominative Singular, may have arisen from a defer- 
ence to the person addressed, which led the speaker to treat 
one as more than one, or as representing others besides him- 
self. That you had a plural meaning, and not a singular 
one, is evident from the circumstance that it is Nominative 
to a Plural Verb, you are, and not to a singular one, you art. 
But it has long since ceased to have that meaning, or to 
suggest the idea of plurality when applied to an individual. 
It may, therefore, with propriety take its place among the 
singular forms in the declension of the pronoun and the con- 
jugation of the verb. See § 287, 

In the languages of modern Europe, divers expedients have 
been adopted to supersede the pronoun of the second person 
singular ; and only among certain classes, or in particular 
cases, is it thought allowable nowadays to address any one 
by his rightful appellation, thou. This is commonly supposed 
to be dictated by a desire of showing honor to him whom we 
are addressing. But the further question arises, Why is it 
esteemed a mark of honor to turn an individual into a multi- 
tude ? The secret motive which lies at the bottom of these 
conventions is a reluctance, in the one case, to obtrude one's 
own personality by the use of J, and, in the other, to intrude 
on the personality of another by the use of thou. 

Among the Greeks and Romans there was not the same 
personality in their addresses to each other. They never 
fancied that there could be any thing indecorous or affronting 
in calling each other simply av or tu. 

In England thou was in current use until, perhaps, near 
the commencement of the seventeenth century, though it was 
getting to be regarded as somewhat disrespectful. At Walter 
R-aleigh's trial, Coke, when argument and evidence failed him, 
insulted the defendant by applying to him the term thou. 
*' All that Lord Cobham did," he cried, <' was at thy instigation, 
thou viper I for I thou thee, thou traitor !" When Sir Toby 



THE GERMAN USAGE. 227 

Belch is urging Sir Andrew Ague-Cheek to send a challenge 
to Viola, he says, '^ If thou thouest him some thrice it shall 
not be amiss." 

George Fox, in his Journal, tells us, " When the Lord 
sent me forth into the world, I was required to thee and thou 
all men and women, without any respect to rich or poor, great 
or small, '^ixt^ ah ! the rage that then v/as in priests, mag- 
istrates, and people of all sorts, but especially in priests or 
professors ; for though thou, to a single person, was accord- 
ing to their own learning, their accidence, and their gram- 
mar rules, they could not bear it," This was in 1648. In 
1661, he says, " The book called The Battle-door QAiaQ forth, 
written to show that, in all languages, thou and thee is the 
proper and usual speech to a single person, and you to more 
than one. This was set forth in examples taken from the 
Scriptures, and out of books of teaching in about thirty lan- 
guages. When the book was finished, some of the copies 
were presented to the king and his council, to the bishops of 
Canterbury, and to the two universities, one apiece. The 
king said it was proper language for all nations ; and the 
Bishop of London being asked what he thought of it, was so 
&,t a stand that he could not tell what to say ; for it did so 
iriform and convince people that fev/ afterward were so rug- 
ged toward us for saying thou and thee to a single person, 
which before they were exceeding fierce against us for." 

" The substitution of the plural you for the singular thou 
is only one among many devices which have been adopted 
for the sake of veiling over the plain-speaking familiarity of 
the latter. The Germans call you they, the Italians she and 
her. In the Malay languages, we are told by Marsden, a 
variety of substitutes for the first and second pronoun are in 
use, by which the speaker betokens his own inferiority or the 
superiority of the person he is addressing."— See Guesses at 
Truth, p. 187. 

"THE GERMAN USAGE. 

§ 221. Till within some centuries, the Germans, like the 
French and the English, addressed each other in familiar con- 
versation by the Second Person Singular, and in formal inter- 



228 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

course by the Second Person Plural. Since that period an- 
other mode of address has been adopted as expressive of re- 
spect, viz., by the Third Person Plural, while inferiors were, 
and still are addressed in the Third Person Singular. 

Although the Germans adopted these modern forms, they 
still retained the ancient form. There exists, therefore, a con- 
siderable variety in accommodating the mode of address to the 
different relations of superiority, inferiority, friendship, and 
love. The use of the Third Personal Pronoun in the Plural 
is generally received in the polite conversation of people of edu- 
cation ; and even inferiors, if not in dependence on the speaker, 
would be offended if otherwise addressed. The Second Per- 
sonal Pronoun in the Plural is used among peasants and other 
people of lower condition, and is never used by others, except 
in addressing persons of that description. This practice is, 
however, more common in the country than in towns. The 
Third Personal Pronoun in the Singular, ex for male, and 
sie for female persons, is used only in addressing inferiors, 
particularly servants and others, v^ho are dependent on the 
speaker ; it is also employed by the country people of some 
German provinces in speaking to one another. Being con- 
sidered, however, as indicating a want of respect, this mode 
of address should scarcely ever be used. The natural ad- 
dress, 5m n» is much more usual at the present day in German 
than in other modern languages. As it excludes all ceremo- 
nious formality, it is reserved for relations of confidence, friend- 
ship, and love. They use it in addressing their family, their 
best friends, and the Supreme Being. - 

PRONOUNS OF THE THIRD PERSON. 

§ 222. He. This word, in the present stage of the En- 
glish language, is defective in its declension. It consists at 
present of the following forms : 

1. It, a true form of the Neuter Gender, of which the let- 
ter t was the sign. The form in Anglo-Saxon was hit, hi4. 
The loss of the h has done much to disguise the nature of the 
present word it, which is a true formation from he. I-t, tha-t, 
and wha-t, are true neuter signs, t being the original sign of 
the Neuter Gender. In the present Danish, Swedish, Nor- 



PRONOUNS OF THE THIRD PERSON. 229 

wegian, and Icelandic, and in the Old Norse and Moeso- 
Gothic, all Neuter Adjectives end in t. 

Its, a possessive irregularly formed. The t being mis- 
taken for an original part of the word, the form e, t, s was 
derived from it, superseding the Saxon his. The t was no 
original part of the word, but the sign of the Neuter Gender. 

The following forms were in use in the time of Elizabeth 
and James I. : " Learning hath his infancy, when it is but 
beginning, and almost childish ; then his youth, when it is 
luxuriant and juvenile ; then his strength of years, when it 
is solid and reduced ; and, lastly, his old age, when it waxeth 
dry and exhaust." — Bacon, Essay LVIII. llere his is evi- 
dently used as the possessive case of it. 

The word its is of late introduction into the language. It 
does not occur in the versions of the Bible, the substitute 
oeing his or thereof. 

2. Him, originally a Dative (lieom), common to the Mas^ 
culine and the Neuter Genders, now an objective case, and 
restricted to the masculine only. 

3. His, hi-s, now and originally a true possessive. In the 
Anglo-Saxon it was common to both the Masculine and Neu- 
ter Genders, the word its being, in that stage of the language, 
unknown. Now, as a neuter it is replaced by its: "et qui- 
dem ipsa vox his ut et interrogativum whose, nihil aliud sunt 
quam /iee'5, whoh, ubi 5 omnino idem prsestat quod in aliis 
possessivis. Similiter autem his pro hee's eodem errore quo 
nonnunquam hin pro heen ; item ivhose pro who^s eodem 
errore quo done, gone, knowne, growne, &o., pro doen, goen, 
knowen, vel do'^n, go''n, knouPn, grow'n ; utrobique contra 
analogiam linguse ; sed usu defenditur." — Wallis, ch. v. 

4. Her {lie-r), originally hire or hyre, used in the Anglo- 
Saxon either as a Dative or a Possessive ; used in modern 
English as a Possessive {her book) or as an objective (he led. 
her). Hers is probably a case from a Case. 

§ 223. She. This word has grown out of the Anglo-Saxon 
seo. Now seo was in Anglo-Saxon the feminine form of the 
Definite Article, the definite article being a demonstrative 
pronoun. Heo being lost to the language, was replaced by 
the feminine article seo. 



230 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

§ 224. They, Their, Them. When hit had been changed 
into it, when heo had been replaced by she, and when tho 
singular form the as an article had come to serve for all the 
cases of all the Genders, two circumstances took place : 
1. The forms pdm and para as Definite Articles became su- 
perfluous ; and, 2. The connection between the plural forms 
hi, heom, heora, and the singular forms he and it, grew in- 
distinct. These were conditions favorable to the use of the 
forms they, them, and their, instead of hi, heom, hedra. See 
§ 209. 

Theirs. This word is in the same predicament with ours, 
yours, and hers. It is either a case formed from a Case, and 
is a secondary genitive, or it is the Case of an Adjective. See 
§ 222, 

POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVE PRONOUNS. 

§ 225. The Genitive or Adnominal case of the pronoun has, 
in several of the Indo-European languages, given rise to a pos- 
sessive adjective, which differs from the genitive or possessive 
case only in being declined like an adjective. Thus : 

From Sanscrit mama, genitive of aham, I, comes mamaka, 
my ; from Sanscrit to.va, genitive of tvam, thou, comes ta- 
vaka, thy. 

From Slavonic mene, gen. of az, I, comes moi, masc. moya, 
fem. moe, neut. my ; from Slavonic tehe, gen. of ty, thou, 
comes tvoi, masc. tvoya, fem. tvoe, neut. thy. 

From Greek eixov, gen. of ey(^, comes Euog, kfj,?], efiov, my ; 
from Greek gov, gen. of ov, comes o6g, or), gov, thy (comp. 
Greek 6r]n6GLog, from gen. dfuxov, Ionic diji^oio, ancient drjfioGLo). 

From Latin mei, gen. of ego, comes mens, mea, meum, 
my ; from Latin tui, gen. of tu, comes tuus, tua, tuum, thy ; 
from Latin cujus, gen. of quis, quce, quod, comes cujus, cuja, 
cujum, belonging to whom ? 

From Gothic meina, gen. of ik, I, comes meins, masc. 
meina, fem. mein, neut. my ; from Gothic theina, gen. of 
thu, thou, comes theins, masc. theina, fem. thein, neut. thy. 

From Anglo-Saxon min, gen. of ic, I, comes min, masc. 
mine, fem. min, neut. my ; from Anglo Saxon thin^ gen. of 
thu, comes thin, masc. thine^ fem. thin, neut. thy. 



POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVE PRONOUNS. 231 

In Hindoos tanee 5 also, the genitive case, so designated by 
the writers on that language, conforms itself in its termina- 
tions to the gender, number, and case of the noun by which 
it is governed, just as an adjective would do. 

Notwithstanding these facts, there is, we apprehend, in the 
English language no possessive adjective pronoun distinct 
from the possessive case of the substantive pronoun. 

For, in the first place, adjectives are not inflected in En- 
glish. There is, originally, no essential difference of mean- 
ing between the possessive case of the substantive and the 
possessive adjective ; and in languages which have no inflec- 
tion, as the Chinese, it is a matter of indifference whether 
certain forms are called the possessive case of the substantive 
or a possessive adjective. As adjectives in English are not 
declined, we have not this means of distinguishing them from 
substantives. 

In the second place, 7nine and my, thine and thy, are sev- 
erally both derived from an ancient genitive ; as, mine and 
my from Gothic meina, gen. of ik, Anglo-Saxon mm, gen. of 
ic, and not from Gothic meins, meina, mein, Anglo-Saxon 
min, mine, min, the adjective. So thine and thy from Gothic 
theina, gen. of thu, Anglo-Saxon thin, gen. of thu, and not 
from Gothic theins, theina, thein, Anglo-Saxon thin, thine, 
tfiin', the adjective. 

And, in the third place, the different uses of my and mine, 
thy and thine, severally, are merely euphonic. The longer 
forms are used at the end of a sentence or clause for the 
better cadence. As the indefinite articles an and a are 
mere abridgments of the ancient numeral for one, being dis- 
tinguished from it euphonically, so mine and my, thine and 
thy, are severally mere abridgments of ancient longer forms. 
Thus we say, "It is my book ;" but '' The book is mine,"'^ or 
" Mine is the book," just as we say, " Will you give me a 
book ?" Answer. " Here, take oneP Also, we say, " My 
book ;" but anciently altogether, and now, in more solemn 
style, ^' Mine hour," ^^ mine iniquities," just as we say, ^'A 
book," " an hour," " an elephant." Thus the longer forms 
are used at the end of a sentence or a clause, whenever the 
^vord with which it stands most immediately connected is 



232 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

either omitted or begins with a vowel. If our views are cor- 
rect, it follows, 

1. We can not approve of the course of the older English 
grammarians, as Wallis, Greenwood, Wiseman, Priestley, 
who make mine and my, thme and thy all adjective pronouns, 
unless one goes further and makes, also, John's and Peter'^s 
adjective nouns. No one, we fancy, will incline to do this. 

2. We can not approve of the course of most modern En- 
glish grammarians, as Lowth, Murray, Barrett, IngersoU, 
Lennie, who make mine and thi^ie possessive cases of the per- 
sonal pronoun, and my and thy possessive adjective pronouns; 
for the etymology or derivation does not sustain such a dis- 
tinction, and the addition of a substantive following is no more 
necessary for an adjective than for a genitive case. 

3. We can not approve of the principle adopted by a late 
celebrated English grammarian, that mine and thine are not 
the genitive or possessive case of the personal pronouns, but 
pronouns or substitutes which may stand of themselves di- 
rectly in the nominative or accusative case, ■ or be preceded by 
of, the sign of the genitive ; for all the examples usually ad- 
duced may be explained by supplying the ellipsis of the sub- 
stantive, and making the change in the form of the pronoun 
which the principles of euphony require. Thus, " My book 
is lost, but thine and John's are not," i. e., " Thy book and 
John's book are not;" "They stole my book, but not thine 
and John's ;" " They stole my book, but not thy book, and 
not John's book;" ''He is my friend, but not a friend of 
thine and Peter's," i. e., '' Not one of thy friends, and not one 
of Peter's friends." So Jehovah might say, "Worship me, 
all ye saints or holy ones of mine," for he hath others who 
are not saints. 

4. Much less can we approve of the opinion which Mr, 
Joab Brace, in his English Grammar, has incorrectly ascribed 
to Dr. Webster, that my and thy are strictly adjectives, and 
not adjective pronouns ; for the characteristic of the pronoun, 
which consists in demonstrating or pointing out, and not in 
naming, like the noun, is as perceptible in 7ny and thy as in 
T and thou. 



SELF" AS A REFLECTIVE PRONOUN. 233 



CHAPTER VIII. 

«'SELF" USED INSTEAD OF A REFLECTIVE PRONOUN, 

§ 226. Self ; Anglo-Saxon Sylf ; Moeso-Gothic Silba; 
Plural, Selves. Several considerations go to show that Self 
is a Substantive, or has a Substantival power, though Sylf 
in the Anglo-Saxon was declined as an Adjective. 

1. In myself thyself ourselves^ yourselves^ it appears to 
be a Substantive preceded by a Genitive Case. Myself =my 
individuality. 

2. In himself and themselves^ the construction is that of a 
Substantive in Apposition with a Pronoun in the Accusative. 

3. When himself and themselves are used as Nominatives, 
they must be explained on another principle. The two words 
himself themselves, must be viewed each as a single word 
compounded ; and even then the compound will be of an ir- 
regular kind, inasmuch as the inflectional element -m is dealt 
with as part and parcel of the root. 

4. >Se//has Selves, the plural form of a Noun, and not that 
of an Adjective. 

In the German phrases min lip, din lip, my body, thy 
body, there are the equivalents to myself and thyself 

5. It is used as a noun; as, the lover of self . 

6. The circumstance that if self he dealt with as a noun, 
such phrases as my own self my great self my single self 
&c., can be used, by which the language would be a gainer. 
In the Anglo-Saxon, it is added to personal pronouns in the 
same gender and case ; as, N. Icsylf, / myself ; G. Min- 
sylfes, of myself, &c. N. Wesylfe, we ourselves ; G. Ure- 
sylfra, of ourselves, &c. It was also annexed to Nouns ; 
as, Petrus-sylf, Peter^s self ; Crist-sylf, Christ himself 

§ 227. Formerly seZ/ was used as an Adjective ; as, <'At 
that selfsame moment."— Dryden. Self-same is equiva- 
lent to "very same." Formerly hisself and their selves were 
in use even in the objective case, after a preposition. " Every 



234 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

of US, each for Msself, labored how to recover him."- — Sydney. 
< That they would willingly and of theirselves endeavor to 
keep a perpetual chastity." Our self is peculiar to the Regal 
style. 

§ 228. There is no true Reflective pronoun in the English 
Language. " Vox self pluraliter selves^ quamvis etiarn pro- 
nomen a quibusdam censeatur (quoniam ut plurimum per 
Latinum ipse redditur), est tamen plane nomen substanti- 
vum." — Wallis, c. vii. 

In the Moeso-Gothic one is found in three cases : &eina, 
sis, sik==sui, sibi, se. In Old Norse there is one found in 
three cases : Sin, ser, sik. In Old Frisian, in Old Saxon, 
in Old High-German, in Anglo-Saxon, there are traces of a 
Reflective pronoun, at least in its Adjectival forms. 

In Dutch, Danish, and Swedish the true Reflectives occur, 
so that the Modern Frisian and English stand alone in respect 
to the entire absence of them. 

The absence of the true Reflective in English renders the 
use of the word self much more necessary than it would be 
otherwise. In the English language, reflective f 071ns for the 
Accusative case are obtained from the personal pronouns by 
the addition of self and its plural selves to the Genitive of the 
first two persons, and to the Accusative of the third ; as, I 
abhor myself ; thou enrichest thyself ; he loves himself ; she 
admires herself; it pleases itself; we value ourselves ; ye 
huxYY yourselves ; they see themselves. 

In the Nominative case, and sometimes when governed by 
a preposition, these compounds express Emphasis ; as, I my- 
self will write ; I will examine for myself ; thou thyself shalt 
go ; thou shalt see for thyself; you yourself shall write ; you 
shall see for yourself; he himself shall write ; he shall ex- 
amine for himself; she herself shall write ; she shall examine 
foY herself ; the child itself shall be carried ; it shall be pres- 
ent itself 

§ 229. To make the Genitives his, her, its, our, your, 
their, mine, thine Emphatic or Reflective, the pronominal 
adjective own is used ; as, '< He killed himself with his own 
sword." " Let them fall by their own counsel." 



DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS. 235 



CHAPTER IX. 

DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS, 

§ 230. The Demonstrative Pronouns (Latin demonstrare^ 
to show) are, This, plural These ; That, plural Those. They 
are so called because they eminently point out the objects to 
which they relate ; as, '' This is true charity : that is only 
its image." 

^ '^ , " The only good on earth 

Was pleasure ; not to follow that was sin." 

In the last example, that stands simply for pleasure ; there 
is no ellipsis, for we can not put in the word " pleasure" with- 
out striking out that. " ThaP^ stands for ^' pleasure," and 
not for that pleasure. It is, therefore, a Pronoun, and not an 
Adjective. This refers to the nearest person or thing, and 
that to the most distant. This indicates the latter or last 
mentioned, that the former or first mentioned ; as, '' Both 
wealth and poverty offer temptations ; that tends to excite 
pride, this discontent." 

" Demonstrative Pronouns are those which express the de- 
monstrative relation, namely, a relation either to the speaker 
or to another notion, establishing a distinction from other 
persons or things." — Becker. 

This and these answer to the Latin S'c and hi, and to 
the Greek ovTo^, oi^TOi ; That Sind those, to the Latin J//e and 
illi, and the Greek sKslvog, ercslvoi. 

§ 231. DECLENSION IN ANGLO-SAXON. 

O pMT (that) and pis (this). 

PLURAL. 

Sent. Masc. Fem. 

fid (they), pd, pd. 
pd, pd, pd. 

pdm, pdm, pdm. 

pdm (them), pdm, pdm. 
Pdra (their), pdra, para. 







SINGULAR. 




Neut. 


Masc. Fem. 


T^om. 


, pcBt (that), 
pcet, 




Ace, 


pone (than, then), pa. 


AM., 


>by(thy), 


Py, paf-re. 


Vat., 


pam, 


pam, pa! -re (there). 


Gen., 


pass, 


paes, Pa!-re. 



236 



ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 





SINGULAR. 






PLURAL. 






Neiit. 


Masc. 


Fera. 


Neut. 


Masc. 


Fem. 


Nom. 


, pis (this), 


pes, 


peos. 


pas (these), 


pas, 


pas. 


Ace, 


pis, 


pisne, 


pis, 


pas, 


pas, 


pas. 


Abl, 


pise, 


pige, 


pisse. 


pisum. 


pisum, 


pisum 


Dat., 


pisum, ^ 


pisum, 


pisse. 


pisum. 


pisum, 


pisum 


Gen., 


pises, 


pises, 


pisse. 


pissa. 


pissa. 


pissa. 



The cases marked in italics are in the present language. 
Throughont the Indo-European tribe, the Demonstrative idea 
is expressed by t, or by some modification of it. Sanscrit 
Tat,' that; tataras, such a one out of two. Lithuanic Tas, 
he ; toks, such. Slavonic tako, so. Latin Tot, talis, tantum. 
Greek Toaog, Tolog, rore. English This, that, thus. 

§ 232. These. The s is no inflection, but a radical part 
of tlie word, like the 5 in geese. The form in Anglo-Saxan 
is fias. According to Guest, the plural termination of the 
word is the letter e, and this e is the Old English and the 
Anglo-Saxon Adjectival Plural ; so that thes-e is formed from 
thes, as gode\= boni) is formed from god (bonus). 

§ 233. Those is perhaps the Anglo-Saxon pa, with s add- 
ed ; or, perhaps, the pas, from pis, with its power altered. 
The English form they is illustrated by the Anglo-Saxon 
form %age = pa. There is much uncertainty resting upon 
the doctrine of the forms in question. 

§ 234. According to Latham, the Demonstrative Pronouns 
are, 1. He, it; 2. She; 3. This, that; 4. The. The rea- 
sons he assigns for this classification are, 1. That the personal 
pronouns, exclusive of He, it, and she, form a natural class 
by themselves, distinguished by the absence of Gender, and 
Defectiveness ; 2. That the idea expressed by He, it, and she 
is naturally that of Demonstrativeness, corresponding to the 
meaning of is, ille, and hie, which are Demonstrative Pro- 
nouns; 3. That the plural forms they, their, them, in the pres- 
ent English, are the plural forms of the root of that, a true 
Demonstrative Pronoun ; so that even if he, she, and it 
could be treated as Personal Pronouns, it could only be in 
their so-called Singular Number ; 4. That the word she has 
grown out of the Anglo-Saxon seo, and that seo was in Anglo- 
Saxon the feminine form of the Definite Article, the Definite 
Article being a Demonstrative Pronoun. 



RELATIVE PRONOUNS. £37 



CHAPTER X. 

RELATIVE PRONOUNS. 

§ 235. The "Relative Pronouns (Latin relatum refer 6) arcj 
Who, Which, That, and What^. They not only relate to 
some preceding word or phrase called the Antecedent, but 
perform the office of a Conjunction in connecting Sentences. 

§ 236. Who is applied to persons. Which was formerly 
applied to persons ; it is now applied only to animals and 
things without life. That is used for ivlio or which, and is 
applied to both persons and things. What, in its derivation 
the neuter of vjho, is, in its use, a compound relative, includ- 
ing the antecedent and the relative, and is equivalent to that 
which or those which ; as, "this is what I wanted ;" that is, 
the thing which I wanted. For the connecting power of the 
relatives, see Syntax. 

Who and Which are the same in both numbers, and are 
thus declined : 

Sing, and Plur. Sing, and Plur. 

Nom.j Who, Which. 

. Foss., Whose, Whose. 

Obj., Whom, '^ Which (see § 247). 

What admits of no variation. As a simple relative, it 
has been so far replaced by which that its use is now vul- 
gar. 

§ 237. 1. Which is a substitute for a sentence, or a part 
of a sentence, as well as for a single word ; as, " We are 
bound to obey all the divine commands, which we can not do 
without divine aid." 

2. Which is sometimes used as an Adjective ; as, '* For 
which reason he will do it." 

3. Which sometimes relates to persons ; as, " Tell me 
which of the two men." 

§ 238. 1. What is sometimes used as an Adjective, either 
in the singular or plural number ; as, " In what character 



238 ETYMOLOGICAL FORxMS. 

Butler was admitted into the lady's service is not known;" 
*^ It is not material what names are assigned to them." 

2. What is sometimes used as a Pronominal Adjective and 
a Relative Pronoun in the same sentence ; as. What God but 
enters yon forbidden field." Here what God =the God who. 

3. What sometimes stands for an Indefinite idea ; as, <'He 
cares not what he says or does." 

4. What sometimes stands for a sentence or clause; as, 
*' I tell thee what^ corporal, I could tear her." Here ivhat 
stands for "I could tear her." 

§ 239. 1. That is a Relative Pronoun when it is convert- 
ible into luho or which, 

2, That is a Pronominal Adjective when it defines or lim- 
its 'a sut)stantive ; as, " That flower is beautiful." 

3, That is a Demonstrative Pronoun when it represents a 
noun and is not^ a relative. See ^230. 

4, That is a Conjunction when it serves merely to connect 
sentences ; as, '' I eat that I may live." 

§ 240. The word As is sometimes used as a Relative Pro- 
noun ; as, ^' The man a$ rides to market." 

§ 241. Who, which, and what have sometimes the words 
^ver and soever annexed to them; as, Whoever^ ivhichever^ 
whatever, wlwsoever, whichsoever, and whatsoever. These 
words are a kind of Compound Relative, and have the same 
construction as what ; as, ^^ Whoever will follov/ Christ must 
expect reproach ;" ^^ At once came forth whatever creeps." 

Whoso was ancientl}'- in use as the nominative of two 
verbs; ^^ Whoso is out of hope to attain to another's virtue, 
will seek to come at even hand by depressing another's for- 
tune." 

§ 242. The Relative Pronouns Who, which, and that have 
been called Stibjunctive, because they can not introduce an 
independent sentence or proposition, but serve only to subjoin 
one to another which is previous. The Personal Pronouns, 
on the other hand, have been called Prepositive, because they 
are capable of leading or introducing a sentence, without hav- 
ing any reference, at least for the purposes of construction, 
to any thing previous. Of the nature of the subjunctive pro- 
noun is the Interrogative. 



INTERROGx\TIVE AND RESPONSIVE PRONOUNS. £39 



CHAPTEE XL 

INTERROGATIVE AND RESPONSIVE PRONOUNS. 

§ 243. Who, Which, and What are called Interrogatives 
(Latin interrogare, to ask) when they are used in asking 
questions ; as. Who is there ? Which is the book ? What are 
you doing ? Interrogative pronouns are those by which the 
demonstrative relation of a person or thing is asked. 

1. Who, used interrogatively, is applied to persons ; Which 
and What to both persons and things. 

2. Whether, signifying which of the two, was anciently 
used as an interrogative ; as, " Whether is greater, the gold 
or the temple ?" In this sense it is now obsolete, being re- 
placed by which. 

3. A Relative refers to a subject that is antecedent ; an 
Interrogative to one that is subsequent; as, ^'' John, wAo did 
itj" ^' Who did it? JohnP 

§ 244. " Who inquires for the name ; Which, for the indi- 
vidual ; What, for the character or occupation. Thus, Who 
wrote the book ? Mr. Webster. Which of the Websters ? 
Noah Webster. What was he ? A lexicographer. 
> § 245. ''In answering questions, who, which, and what 
have been called Responsives. The word used to answer the 
question must be the same as the one used to ask it ; thus. 
Who wrote the book ? I do not know luho wrote it. Which 
of the gentlemen was it ? I do not know which of them it 
was. What is he ? I do not know vjhat he is."— Hart's 
Grammar, p. 58. 

A Responsive Pronoun is often used when no Interrogative 
Pronoun has been previously used in the construction, and thus 
implies a question ; as, ''I can not tell who wrote this book." 

Who is applied to persons indefinitely ; but which is ap- 
plied to persons definitely. ''Who will go up with me to 
Ramoth-Gilead ?" is indefinitely proposed to all who shall 
hear the question. ^^Which of you, with taking thought, 
can add to his stature one cubit ?" is an interros^ation ad- 



240 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

dressed to an individual, as appears from the partitive form 
of the words ^' which of you''^=^^^ what one of you all." 

§ 246. DECLENSION IN ANGLO-SAXON OF HWAET = 
WHAT, AND H W A == W H O. 

Neut. Masc. 

iVom., Hwset, Hwa. 

Gen.^ Hwses, Hwses. 

Ace. Hwset, Hwone (Hwaene) (When). 

Abl. Hwi (Why), Hwi. 

Dat.^ Hwam, Hwam. 

§ 247. Which, Anglo-Saxon Lie, like ; hiva, who ; Moeso- 
Gothic Hveleiks ; Old High-German Huelih ; Anglo-Saxon 
Huilic, hvilc ; Old Frisian Hwelik ; Danish Hvilk-en ; 
Scotch Whilk ; English Which. In its origin it is a Com 
pound. 

Throughout the Indo-European tribe the Interrogative or 
Relative idea is expressed by k, or by a modification of k ; 
e. g., qu., hv, or h ; as, Sanscrit Kas, who ; kataras^ which 
of two ; katama, which of many ; Lithuanic kas, who ; koks^ 
of what sort ; Russian kto, who ; kolik, how great ; Bohemi. 
an kotort/'i which ; Latin quot, qtialis, quantiis ; Ionic Greek 
KOGog, Kolog, kots; Moeso-Gothic hiier ; English ivho, ivhat^ 
why, ivhich, where. 

reciprocal pronouns. 

§ 248. A Reciprocal Pronoun is one that implies the mu- 
tual action of different agents. Each other, and one an- 
other, are our reciprocal forms, which are treated exactly 
as if they were compound pronouns, taking for their genitives 
each other's, one anotherh. Each other is properly used of 
two, and one another of more. 

THE indeterminate PRONOUN. 

§ 249. One, as used in the phrases one does so and so, one 
is in doubt, has been called an Indeterminate Pronoun. One 
says ^=they say=\t is said = man sagt, German = on dit, 
French. This is from the Old French horn om. This is so 
far substantival that it is inflected. Genitive singular, one's 
own self ; plural, " My wife and little ones are well." 



ADJECTIVE PRONOUNS. 241 



CHAPTEE XII. 

ADJECTIVE PRONOUNS. 

§ 250. Pronouns can not be conveniently classed without 
admitting many words which may also be considered as Adjec- 
tives. These may be called either Pronominal Adjectives or 
Adjective Pronouns. See § 182. " All words which, instead 
of naming or describing an object, enable us to distinguish it 
by some relations, are Pronouns, or have a pronominal charac- 
ter." — Buttmann. It matters little whether the words under 
consideration are called Adjective Pronouns, or Pronominal 
Adjectives. For all practical purposes the terms may be con- 
sidered as convertible. 

Each, Anglo-Saxon ySZe, Scotch ilka^ the I being dropped, 
as in which and such. It is sometimes called a distributive, 
because it denotes all the individuals of a number taken sep- 
arately ; as, " The four beasts had each of them six wings." 
In this passage each is a substitute for the " four beasts." 
^' The prince had a body-guar(j[ of a thousand men, each of 
whom was six feet high." In these two examples each is 
used in its Pronominal character. <' He exacted of each man 
fifty shekels." In this passage each is an Adjective. 

Every, Old English Everichf everech. evirilk one, is aelc, 
preceded by the word ever. It denotes all the individuals of 
a number greater than two, separately considered. " Each 
and every of the clauses and conditions." Here every is a 
Pronoun. <'^^er^ man's performances." Here every iq an 
Adjective. 

Either, Anglo-Saxon jEgper, denotes one of two, but not 
both. - " Either of the roads is good." Here either is a Pro- 
noun. " I will take either road at your pleasure." Here 
either is an Adjective. Either has also sometimes the mean- 
ing of ^ach ; as, " Seven times the sun had either tropic 
viewed." " Two thieves were crucified on either side." 

Neither =not either, is used as a Pronoun and as an Ad- 

Q 



242 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

jective ; as, ^''Neither office will fit the candidate, though 
7ieither of the offices is filled." 

Other, Anglo-Saxon O^er, is used as a Pronoun, and op- 
posed to one ; as, '' All rational evidence is derived from one 
or other of these two sources." It is also used as an Adjec- 
tive ; as, '' Other sheep I have which are not of this fold." 
When used without a substantive it takes a Plural, Other, 
others. Other indicates separation, and means one more, or 
some of the same class or kind. 

Another is the Anglo-Saxon An, one, and o^er=^one other. 
'' Let another praise thee, and not thine own mouth." Here 
ayiother is a Pronoun. " ^l^o^/ier soldier was killed." Here 
another is an Adjective. Another is used in the possessive 
case; as, ^'Anotherh aid." 

One, a numeral Adjective, is also used as a Pronoun. 
One, when contrasted with other, sometimes represents plural 
nouns ; as, '' The reason why the one are ordinarily taken 
for real qualities, and the other for bare powers, seems to 
be." — Locke. Johnson says, " This relative mode of speech 
is not very elegant, yet it is used by good authors." "There 
are many whose waking thoughts are wholly employed on 
their sleeping ones.'''' — Addison. It frequently is not easy to 
distinguish between the one here described, and i\\Q one de- 
scribed in § 249. One often stands in company with every, 
any, no, some. 

Any, Anglo-Saxon ^mg", Old High-German einic=^any, 
and einac = single. In Anglo-Saxon anega means single. 
In New High-German einig means, 1. A certain person. 
2. Agreeing; einzig, meaning single. In Dutch e/zec/i has 
both meanings. This indicates the word an = one, as the root 
of the word in question. Any has several meanings : 1. After 
negative words, and such words and phrases as have a nega- 
tive force, " any'''' marks the exclusion of all. '' He did it with- 
out any hesitation." <' We can not make any difference 
between you." So after '' scarcely''^ and comparatives, and 
in questions where the expected answer is nobody, oione. 
" Scarcely any one.''"' " He is taller than any of his school- 
fellows." "Can a7iy man believe this?" 2. It is some- 
times equivalent to " any you please ;" " every body ;" as, 



ADJECTIVE PRONOUNS. £43 

*^ any body can do that." 3. Again, it is sometimes indefinite^ 
being equivalent to some one ; as, '^ Shall we tell any body 
of our misfortunes ?" 

Such, Anglo-Saxon 8vilc^ Old Saxon Suite.) German 
Soldi. '' Objects of importance must be portrayed by objects 
of importance ; such as have grace, by things graceful." — 
Campbell's Ehet., i., 2. Such hme. supplies the place of a 
noun, though it retains its adjectival character, and the noun 
may be added. 

Aught, Anglo-Saxon Aht, auht^ awuht. It means any 
thing. It is sometimes improperly spelled ought. It is 
etymologically related to whit. The word naught is aught 
preceded by the Negative particle. '• Doth Job serve God 
for naught ?^^ = not any thing = nothing. 

Some, Anglo-Saxon Sum. '^ Some to the shores do fly, 
some to the v^oods." In cases like this it has a Pronominal 
character. «' Some men and some women were present." 
Here some is adjectival. '' Some with numerals is used to 
signify about. Some fifty years ago." Objections have 
been made to this phraseology ; but it is a good old Saxon 
idiom. '^ Sum is often combined with the Genitive Plural 
of the Cardinal numbers, and signifies about ; as, '^ Sum ten 
gear., some ten years."— Rask, p. 61. 

IToRMER, Latter ; the one denotes priority, the other pos- 
teriority. Their nouns are frequently understood. Used 
substantively in the singular, they have a regular Genitive ; 
as, <' The /order's phlegm, the /(2^^er'5 vivacity." 

Both, Anglo-Saxon Butu^ Danish Baade. '^ Abraham 
took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimeleoh, and both 
of them made a covenant." Here both is the representative 
oi Abraham and Abimeleoh. '' He will not bear the loss of 
his rank, because he can bear the loss of his estate ; but he 
will bear both, because he is prepared for both.'''' Here, too, 
it is Pronominal in its character. ^' To both the preceding 
kinds the term burlesque is applied." — Campb. Rhet., i., 2. 
Here it is Adjectival. 

Own, Anglo-Saxon Agen, from agan, to possess. In its 
Adjectival character it is intensive, being added to words to 
render the sense emphatical ; as, '^ This is my oivn book," 



2 44 ETYMOLOGICAL FOIIMS. 

In the following example it has a pronominal character : 
" That they may dwell in a place of their own.^^ — 2 Sam., oh. 
vii. In this example a substantive can not follow own. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

'' THE VERB. 

§ 251. I. The Verb is a word which can by itself form 
both the Copula and Predicate of a proposition, or else only 
the Copula of a proposition ; as, ''The sun shines f"^ "God is 
great." Here the Common verb shines^ for grammatical pur- 
poses = is shining^ forms both the Copula and Predicate of the 
first proposition ; and the Substantive Verb is forms only the 
Copula of the second proposition. See § 259, 401. 

II. Or a verb is a word by which something can be assert- 
ed of a person or thing; as, ^'•Jolm readsP Here the act 
of reading is asserted of John. As the verb essentially ex- 
presses assertion^ without which there could be no com- 
munication of thought, it was regarded by the ancient gram- 
marians as the very soul of a sentence, and called verbu7n = 
the word. The Verb, the verb only, predicates. The 
Chinese call verbs live words, nouns dead words. 

III. Or a verb is a word which expresses an action which 
is affirmed of a subject ; as, The rose blooms ; God is loved. 
According to Becker, all notions expressed by language dire 
either notions of an activity, or notions of an existence. The 
notion of an activity is expressed by a Verb when the activ- 
ity is contemplated as bearing on the relations of Person, 
Time, and Mode to the speaker; as. He drank; he fled; the 
tree grows. It is expressed by an Adjective when it is not 
thus related to the speaker ; as, A drunken man ; a flighty 
thought ; a great tree. The notion of an existence is ex- 
pressed by a Substantive ; as, A drinker ; a flock ; the 
growth. Verbs are Notional words, with the exception of 
the verb to be, and certain auxiliary verbs. See § 134. 



TRANSITIVE VERBS. - 245 

In favor of this view may be argued, 

1. That most verbs actually express action in the ordmary 
or colloquial sense of that term. 

2. That verbs now apparently expressing rest or inaction 
originally denoted action ; thus, standing' was conceived of 
as a rising up ; reposing as a putting one's self doivn. 

3. That every verb, in a philosophical view, whether looked 
at physically or metaphysically, expresses motion or action. 

4. That. this definition of a verb forms a good contrast to 
that of the substantive, as expressing mere existence. 

IV. Current definitions of the verb are the following: 1. A 
verb is a part of speech which predicates action^ state, or ex- 
istence of its subject. 2. A verb is a word which signifies 
to be, to do, or to suffer. 

CLASSIFICATION OP VERBS. 

§ .?«)2. 1. Verbs are divided into two classes: I. Transi- 
tive. II. Intransitive. This is not so much a division of 
verbs as a division of their uses, for many verbs are some- 
times transitive and sometimes intransitive. 

2. Verbs are also divided into, I. Those of the Ancient or 
Strong Conjugation, commonly called Irregular. II. Those 
of the Modern or Weak Conjugation, commonly called Reg- 
ular. The terms Strong and Weak are used by Grimm. 

3. Verbs have also been divided into Principal and Auxil- 
iary Verbs ; Substantive and Adjective Verbs ; Simple and 
Derived Verbs. 

Besides these there are Defective Verbs, Impersonal Verbs, 
Reflective Verbs. 

transitive verbs. 

§ 253. Verbs are called Transitive if their notion or idea 
s incomplete without the supplementary notion of an object ; 
IS, «'He struck^ Here the meaning oi struck is incomplete, 
for it has no object. 

1. Transitive Verbs express an assertion in two forms, 
called the Active Voice and the Passive Voice. 

2. The term transitive signifies passing over. '' He 
struck the boy." Here something is supposed to pass over 



2 4 6 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

from the subject to the object. The verb struck is a transi- 
tive verb in the Active form. The " boy was struck by him." 
Here the same affirmation is expressed in the Passive form. 
The Object of the verb in the former case is the Subject in 
this. 

3. The object of a transitive verb is always its supple- 
ment, which, if not expressed by the speaker or the writer, 
is supplied by the hearer or the reader from the connection. 

4. The subject of a transitive verb is sometimes its supple,- 
ment; as, " He struck Amse//," 

INTRANSITIVE VERBS. 

§ 254. Verbs are called Intransitive if theirnotion or idea 
is complete without the addition of any supplementary no- 
tion ; as, " He sleeps. ^^ Here the meaning of sleeps is com- 
plete. It is confined to the subject ; it needs no object. 

1. The term Intransitive means not passing' over. <' He 
runs^' Here the act of running is limited to the subject. 

2. Intransitive verbs, from their nature, can not regularly 
be used in the passive form. 

3. Some verbs are used sometimes in a transitive, and 
sometimes in an intransitive sense ; as, Range, to place in 
order ; and Range, to roam at large. 

4. An Intransitive verb can be defined as one which ex- 
presses simply being; as, I "fl^m;" or state of being ; as, 
he sleeps ; or action limited to the agent ; as, he" runs. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

\ ' THE ATTRIBUTES OF VERBS. 

§ 255. To Verbs belong Person, Number, Tense, Mode, 
and Voice. The forms of conjugation are, Voices, for the 
relation of the action of the Verb to the subject ; Modes, for 
the relation of reality, whether existing, conceived of, or will- 
ed by the speaker ; Tenses, for the relation of time ; Num- 



THE PERSONS OF VERBS. 



247 



bers and Persons, to show the number and person of the Sub- 
ject, corresponding with the numbers and persons of personal 
pronouns. 

THE PERSONS OF VERBS. 

§ 256. Verbs have Three Persons, First, Second, and 
Third, corresponding to the three-fold distinction in personal 
pronouns. ' 

Compared with the Latin, the Greek, the Moeso- Gothic, 
and almost all the ancient languages, there is in English 
only a very slight amount of Inflection. 

Present Tense, Indicative Mode, 



Singular, 
Plural, 


LATIN. 

1st Person- 2d Person. 

Voc-0, Voc-as, 
Voc-amus, Voc-atis, 


3d Person. 

VooTat. 
Voc-ant. 


Singular, 
Plural, 


ANGLO-SAXON. 

Lufige, Lufast, 
Lufia^, Lufia^, 


Lufa^. 
Lufia^. 


Singular, 
Plural, 


OLD ENGLISH. 

Love, Lovest, 
Loven, Loven, 


Loveth. 
Loven. 


Singular, 
Plural, 


MODERN ENGLISH. 

Love, Lovest, 
Love, Love, 


Loveth or loves, 
Love. 



1. Here we see, 1st. The Anglo-Saxon addition of t in 
the second person singular ; 2d. The identity in the form of 
the three persons of the plural number in that language ; 
3d. The change of a^ into en in the Old English plural ; 
4th. The total absence of plural forms in the Modern En- 
glish ; 5th. The change of th into s in loveth and loves. 

2. The sign of the First Person Singular is found in one 
verb only. In the word am {a-m) the m is no part of the 
original word. It is the sign of the First Person Singular 
of the Present Indicative. 

3. The sign of the Second Person Singular is est or st : 
as. Thou callest. 

4. The sign of the Third Person Singular is eth or tli. 



248 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

or else es or s; as, He calleth, or he calls. The first of 
these forms is now used only in formal discourse. It was 
once in common use. It is found only in the Indicative 
Mode and the Present Tense. 

5. Through the whole of the plural there are no signs of 
the Persons or change of form : We call, ye c<2//, they call. 

NUMBERS OF VERBS. 

) 257. Verbs have Two Numbers, the Singular and the 
Plural, corresponding to the two-fold distinction in personal 
pronouns. 

1. As compared with the Present Plural forms We love^ 
ye love, they love, both the Anglo-Saxon We lufia^, ge lufi- 
a^, he lufia^, and the Old English We loven, ye loven, they 
loven, have a peculiar termination for the plural number, 
which the present language wants. In other words, the An- 
glo-Saxon and the Old English have a Plural Personal char- 
acteristic, while the modern English has nothing to corre- 
spond with it. 

2. Now in Anglo-Saxon, with a great number of Verbs, 
such a Plural Inflection not only actually takes place, but 
takes place most regularly. In English it takes place, how- 
ever, in the Past Tense only. And this is the case in all 
the Gothic languages, as well as in the Anglo-Saxon. 

MCESO-GOTHIC. 

Skain, I shone; Skinum, we shone; Gab, I gave; Gebum, we gave. 
Smait, I smote ; Smitum, we smote; Laug, Hied; Lugum, we lied. 

ANGLO-SAXON. 
Arn, Iran; Urnon, we run; Sang, I sang ; Sungon, we sung. 
Span, I span ; Spunnon, we spun ; Drank, / drank ; Drunkon, we drunk. 

3. From these examples the reader can not fail to draw 
the inference, viz., that words like 

Began, Begun. Sank, Sunk. 

Ran, Run. Swam, Swum. 

Span, Spun, Drank, Drunk, &c., 

generally called double forms of the preterite, were originally 
different Numbers of the same Tense, the form in -u being 
Plural. The Second Person Singular generally has the same 
vowel as the plural : Ic sang, I sang ; pu sunge. Thou sung- 



TENSES OF THE VERB. 



249 



est ; He sang. He sang ; "We sungon, We sung ; Ge sungon, 
Ye sung ; Hi sungon, They sung. 

4. The signs of the persons, m, st or est^ eth or 5, are, in 
a secondary sense, the signs of number, since they are found 
only in the singular. But the only real sign expressive of a 
difference of number occurs in the Past Tense of the Indica- 
tive Mode of the verb substantive : I was, Thou wast, He 
was ; We were, Ye were, They were. 

TENSES OF THE VERB. 

§ 258. Tense is a form of the Verb used to express the 
relation of time ; as, I strike ; I struck. Tense is from the 
French temps, Latin ter/ipus, time. 

By combinations of Words and Inflections, English Verbs 
have six tenses, namely, Primary Tenses : 1. The Present ; 
2. The Past^ 3. The Future. Secondary Tenses: 1. The 
Present Perfect ; 2. The Past Perfect ; 3. The Future 
Perfect. 

§ 259. 1. The Present Tense denotes Present time. Of 
this there are three forms : 1. I write. This is the Simple 
form, and denotes habitual action and what is true at all 
times. 2. I am writing. This is the Progressive form, and 
denotes that the action is now going on. 3. I do lorite. 
This is the. Emphatic form, and is used in positive assertions. 

1. The Present tense is often used instead of the Past in 
order to give animation to description. <' He walks (for 
walked) up to him and knocks (for knocked) him down." 
This denotes a single action, and not the natural habitual 
power of the English present. The historian, the poet, and 
the orator make great use of this form, by which they can 
make the dead past become the living present. 

2. The Present tense is also used instead of the Future, 
when the future is conceived of as present ; as, '' J can not 
determine till the mail arrives f *' When he has an oppor- 
tunity he will write.'''' The words till, when, carry the 
mind to an event to happen, and we speak of it as present. 

§ 260. II. The Past Tense, or Preterite, denotes Past 
time. Of this there are three forms : 1. I wrote. This is 
the Simple form, and represents an action which took place 



250 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

at some time completely past. This is expressed in the En- 
glish by the Preterite, in the Greek by the Aorist = unde- 
fined, 2. I was writing. This is the Progressive form, and 
represents the action as unfinished at a certain specified time 
past. 3. I did write. This is the Emphatic form. " I was 
speaking when he entered." Here we have two acts, the 
act of speaking and the act of entering. Both are past as 
regards the time of speaking, but both are present as regards 
each other. The progressive form is expressed by the Past 
Tense of the Substantive Verb and the Present Participle. 
I was speaking = dicebam, the Imperfect tense of the Latin. 
§ 261. III. The Future Tense denotes Future time. 
There are two forms : 1. I shall write. This is the Simple 
form, and represents an action that is yet to come. 2. I 
shall be writing. This is the Progressive form, and express- 
es an action which is to take place at a future specified time. 
Both forms are expressed in the English by the combination 
oi will or shall with an Infinitive Mode ; in Latin and Greek 
by an Inflection : I shall (or will) speak., Xe^co, dicam. 

" In the first Person simply shall foretells ; 
In will a Threat, or else a Promise dwells. 
Shall, in the second and the third, does threat ; 
Will simply, then, foretells the future feat." — Brightland. 

When speaking in the first person, we speak submissively ; 
when speaking to or of another, we speak courteously. In 
the older writers, in the translation of the Bible, for instance, 
shall is applied to all three persons. We had not then reach- 
ed that stage of politeness which shrinks from the appearance 
of speaking compulsorily to another. In the Paradigms of 
the Verbs, two forms of the Future are given. The first may 
be called the Predictive Future. The second may be called 
the Imperative, or the Promissive Future. See § 284. 

§ 262. IV. The Present Perfect Tense denotes Past 
time completed in the present, or connected with the present. 
Of this there are two forms : 1. ^' I have written a letter." 
This is the Simple form, and represents an action as having 
been finished in some time past, reckoning from the present. 
2. '*I have been writing these two hours." This is the 
Progressive form, and represents an action as just finished. 



TENSES OF THE VERB. £51 

The first is expressed in English by the Auxiliary verb have^ 
and the passive participle in the Accusative case and neuter 
gender of the Singular Number. See § 529. The Greek 
expresses this by the reduplicate Perfect : rerv^a = I have 
beaten. If a particular time is mentioned, the tense must 
be the Past ; as, ''I finished the v^ork last week." *^' I have 
seen my friend last week," is not correct English. " J'ai vu 
mon ami hier," is good French ; but '« I have seen my friend 
yesterday," is not good English. 

§ 263. V. The Past Perfect denotes past time that pre- 
cedes some other past time. Of this there are two forms : 
1. '< I had written the letter before he arrived.''^ This is the 
Simple form, and represents the action as past before some 
other past time specified. 2. " I had been writing before he 
arrived.'''' This is the Progressive form, and represents that 
the action was going on before another^ action took place. 

§ 264. VI. The Future Perfect denotes future time that 
precedes some other future time. Of this there are two 
forms : 1. " I shall have written the letter before the mail is 
closed." This is the Simple form, and denotes an action 
which will be past at a future time specified. 2. '' I shall 
have been ivriting an hour before the mail is closed." This 
is the Progressive form, and represents that an action will be 
going on before a certain other future action will take place» 

There are other grammatical forms for expressing future 
time ; as, " I am going to write ;" " I am about to write." 
In the sentence " I have to pay a sum of money to-morrow," 
there is implied a present necessity to do a future act. The 
substantive verb, followed by an adjective verb, forms another 
idiomatic expression of future time ; as, ''John is to co7n- 
mand a regiment." 

4 265. Of the two examples at the head of this section, I 
strike^ I struck, the first implies an action taking place at 
the time of speaking, the second marks an action that has 
already taken place. These two notions of present and past 
time, being expressed by a change of form, are etymologic ally 
true Tenses. They are the only true Tenses (i. e.y on the 
ground of Inflection) in the language. In I was beating, 
I have beaten, I had beaten, and I shall beat, a difference 



252 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

of time is expressed ; but as it is expressed by a combination 
of words, and not by a change of form, no true Tenses are 
constituted. 

§ 266. In Greek the case is different: Tvtttg) (typt6)=I 
beat; ervnrov (etypton)=I was beating ; rvipcj (^typso)=I 
shall beat; ervipa [etypsa)=Ibeat ; rsrvcpa {tetyfa)=I have 
beaten; eTerixpelv (etetufein^= I had beaten. In these words 
we have of the same Mode,, of the same Voice, and the same 
Conjugation six different Tenses, whereas in English, by in- 
flection, there are but two. 

MODES OF THE VERB. 

§ 267. Mode denotes those forms which the Verb assumes 
in order to express the relation of reality as conceived of by 
the speaker. See § 270. It shows the manner, Latin mo- 
dus, in which an attribute is asserted of the subject. 

I. The Indicative Mode expresses direct assertion or in- 
terrogation ; as, '' He teaches.;^'' " Do they learn ?" It is 
used for actual existence. 

II. The Subjunctive Mode expresses conditional assertion; 
as, "If he were there;" "Though he writeP It is used for 
doubtful existence. 

III. The Potential Mode expresses assertions implying pos- 
sibility, contingency, or necessity; as, "He can write;" "He 
may go ;" " He must submit." It is used for possible or 
necessary existence. 

IV. The Imperative Mode expresses the will of the speak- 
er ; as, ''^Depart thou;" "Let us stay f^ ^^ Go in peace." 
This is used for desired existence. 

V. The Infinitive Mode is a form of the verb which is not 
limited to any particular subject ; as, To rest ; to learn. It 
is used for existence in general. It partakes of the nature 
of an abstract noun. 

§ 268. Besides these the Participle has been by some con- 
sidered as a mode of the verb partaking of the nature of the 
Adjective, just as the Infinitive mode partakes of the nature 
of a noun. 

Indicative, from the Latin Indicare, to express or indi- 
cate simply and absolutely. Subjunctive^ from Subjungerej 



INDICATIVE. 


SUBJUNCTIVE. 


Indefinite. 


Perfect. 


Indefinite. 


Perfect. 


[ do or shall love. 


I loved or have loved. 


If! love. 


If I have loved 


Ic luf-ige, 


Luf-ode, 


Luf-ige, 


Luf-ode. 


pu luf-ost, 


Luf-odest, 


Luf-ige, 


Luf-ode. 


He luf-a«, 


Luf-ode, 


Luf-ige, 


Luf-ode. 


We luf-ia€, 


Liif-odon, 


Luf-ion, 


Luf-ode. 


Ge luf-ia«, 


Luf-odon, 


Luf-ion, 


Luf-odon. 


Hi luf-ia«, 


Luf-odon, 


Luf-ion, 


Luf-odon. 



THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MODES. £53 

to subjoin, because the tenses of the subjunctive mode are 
generally subjoined to other verbs. Imperative^ from Impe- 
rare, to command. Potential, from Potentialis, Posse, to be 
able. Infinitive, from Infinitus, unlimited, from its not be- 
ing limited to a particular subject as to person or number. 

THE ANGLO-SAXON MODES. 

§ 269. The Anglo-Saxon has four modes of the Verb, the 
Indicative, the Subjunctive, the Imperative, and the Infini- 
tive, for which there vi^ere corresponding Inflections. 



Sing.. 
Plur., 



IMPEP»,ATIVE. INFINITIVE. PARTICIPLES. 

Lufa fu, love thou. Luf-ian or igean, to love. Indef. Perf. 

Luf-ia^ ge,loveye. T61uf-ienne,-igenne,;oZo?je. Luf-iende, Zoj;i?z^. Lnf-od,loved. 

THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MODES. 

§ 270. In English the distinction between the Modes is 
very slight. The only true Subjunctive Inflection is that of 
were and wert, as opposed to the Indicative forms was and 
wast. See § 290. If he speak, as opposed to if he speaks, 
is characterized by a negative sign only, and consequently 
is no true example of a Subjunctive. Be, as opposed to am, 
in the sentence if it be so, is an uninflected word used in a 
limited sense, and consequently no true example of a Sub; 
junctive. The distinction between the Subjunctive forms 
and the Indicative is likely to pass away. See § 40. 

Between the Second Person Singular Imperative, speak, 
and the Second Person Singular Indicative, speakest, there is 
a diflerence in form. Still, as the Imperative form speak is 
distinguished from the Indicative form speakest by the nega- 
tion of a character rather than by the possession of one, it 
can not be said, on the ground of inflection, that there is in 



254 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

English an Imperative Mode. The Anglo-Saxon has dis- 
tinct forms for the Imperative ; the English has not. 

§ 271. It is questionable whether any thing has been 
gained to the language by the introduction of the Potential 
Mode. It has taken its place extensively in English Gram- 
mar as one of the forms of the verb. Still, it should be re- 
membered that, in the language of Lowth, the mere expres- 
sion of will, possibility, liberty, obligation, belong to the In- 
dicative Mode, just as all direct asse^rtion belongs to that 
mode. In the forms of expression / can go, we may ride^ 
he must obey, /, we, and he are respectively nominative to 
ca7i, may, and must, and govern go, ride, and obey in the In- 
finitive Mode. See § 520. In expressions like ^« if I should 
go," ^^ if Imay ride," we have the Potential form (or Indica- 
tive) under a condition = the Subjunctive mode. 

§ 272, Instead of the terms Subjunctive and Potential, it 
has been proposed by some grammarians, as simplifying the 
subject, to substitute for them both the term Conjunctive, to 
designate the tv/o methods of connecting sentences. Thus, 
when an uncertain sentence is connected with a certain sen- 
tence. If it rain, I shall not go, and when, two uncertain 
sentences are connected together, If it rain, I may not go, 
the term Conjunctive is applied to each of the three uncer- 
tain sentences, instead of the term Subjunctive to the first 
two and the term Potential to the last, I may not go. Ac- 
oording to this view, the Indicative asserts simply ; the Con- 
junctive asserts with modifications. The appropriateness of 
the term Conjunctive is derived from the circumstance that 
the contingency is usually marked by a Conjunction (such 
as if, though, that, except, until), which connects, the de- 
pendent sentence with its principal. 

CONNECTION BETWEEN NOUN AND VERB. 

§ 273. In order to understand clearly the use of the so- 
called Infinitive Mode in English, it is necessary to bear in 
mind two facts : one, a matter of Logic ; the other, a mat- 
ter of History. 

I. In the way of Logic, the difference between a Noun and 
a Verb is less marked than it is in the way of Grammar 



CONNECTION BETWEEN NOUN AND VERB. 255 

Grammatically, the contrast is considerable. The inflection 
of Nonns expresses the idea of Sex as denoted by Gender, and 
of relation in place as denoted by Cases. That of Verbs 
rarely expresses Sex, and never Position. On the other hand, 
however, it expresses what no Noun ever does or can express, 
€. g-., the relation of the agent to the individual speaking by 
means of Person ; the time in which acts take place by means 
of Tense ; and the conditions of their occurrence by means 
of Mode. The idea of Number is the only one that, on a 
superficial view, is common to those two important parts of 
Speech. 

II. Logically, the contrast is inconsiderable. A Noun de- 
notes an object of which either the senses or the intellect can 
take cognizance, and a Verb does no more. To moue=mo- 
tion ; to rise^=rising ; to err=^error ; to forgive = for- 
giveness. The only difference between . the two parts of 
speech is this, that whereas a Noun may express any object 
whatever, Verbs can only express those objects which consist 
in an action ; and it is this superadded idea of action that 
superadds to the Verb the phenomena of Tense, Mode, Per- 
son, and Voice ; in other words, the phenomena of Conjuga- 
tion. 

III. A Noun is a word capable of declension only. A Verb 
is a word capable of declension and conjugation also. The 
fact of Verbs being declined as well as conjugated must be 
remembered. The Participle has the declension of a Noun 
Adjective ; the Infinitive Mode the declension of a Noun Sub- 
stantive. Gerunds and Supines, in languages where they 
occur, are only names for certain cases of the Verb. 

IV. Although in all languages the Verb is equally capable 
of declension, it is not equally declined. The Greeks, for in- 
stance, used forms like 

TO (j)doveLv = Invidia, 

Tov (fydovetv = InvidicB, 

ev rC) (jydovEiv = In invidia^ 

oftener than the Homans. The fact of there being an Article 

in Greek may account for this. 

V. Returning, however, to the illustration of the Substan- 
tival character of the so-called Infinitive Mode, we may easily 



256 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

see, a. The name of any action may be used without any 
mention of the agent. Thus, we may speak of the simple 
fact of walking or moving independently of any specification 
of the walker or mover. /3. That, when actions are spoken 
of thus indefinitely, the idea of either Person or Number has 
no place in the conception ; from which it follows that the 
so-called Infinitive Mode must at once be Impersonal, and 
without the distinction of Singular, Dual, and Plural, y. That, 
nevertheless, the ideas of Time and Relation in space have 
place in the conception. We can think of a person being in 
the act of striking a blow, of his having been in the act of 
striking a blow, or of his being about to be in the act of 
striking a blow. We can also think of a person being in 
the act of doing a good action, or of his being from the act 
of doing a good action. This has been written to show that 
Verbs of languages in general are as naturally declinable as 
Nouns. What follows will show that the Verbs of the Gothic 
languages, in particular, were actually declined, and that frag- 
ments of this declension remain in the present English. 

INFLECTION OF THE INFINITIVE MODE. 

§ 274. The inflection of the Verb (in its Impersonal or 
Infinitive form) consisted, in full, of three cases : a Nomina- 
tive (or Accusative), a Dative, and a Genitive. The Geni- 
tive is put last, because its occurrence in the Gothic language 
is the least constant. 

I. In Anglo-Saxon the Nominative (or Accusative) ended 
in -an: 



Lufian 


= 


to love 


z= 


amare, 


Bsernan 


— 


to burn 





urere. 


Syllan 


== 


to give 


= 


dare. 



The -en, in words like strengthen, is a Derivational termi- 
nation, and not a representation of the Anglo-Saxon Infini- 
tive inflection. The Anglo-Saxon Infinitive inflection is lost 
in the present English, except in certain provincial dialects. 

II. In Anglo-Saxon the Dative of the Infinitive Verb ended 
in -nne, and was (as a matter of Syntax) generally, perhaps 
always, preceded by the Preposition to : 



INFLECTIONS OF THE INFINITIVE MODE. £57 

To lufienne = ad amandum. 

To baernenne = ad urendwn. 

To syllanne = ad dandum. 

III. The Genitive ending in -es occurs only in Old High- 
German and Modern High-German, pldsannes, weinnenes. 

§ 275. With these preliminaries we can take a clear view 
of the English Infinitives. They exist under two forms, and 
are referable to a double origin : 1. The Independent form. 
This is used after the words can, may, will, and some oth- 
ers ; as, I can speak ; I may go ; I shall come ; I will move. 
Here there is no Preposition, and the origin of the Infinitive 
is from the form in -an. 2. The Prepositional form. This 
is used after the majority of English Verbs ; as, I wish to 
speak ; I mean to go ; I intend to come ; I determine to 
move. Here we have the Preposition to, and the origin of 
the Infinitive is from the form in -nne. Expressions like to 
err = err or, to for give =^ forgiveness, in lines like 

" To err is human ; \o forgive, divine !" 

are very remarkable. They exhibit the phenomenon of a 
Nominative Case having grown not only out of a Dative, but 
out of a Dative plus its governing preposition. See § 27,5. 

THE NUMBER OF MODES. 

§ 276. Not only Languages differ as to the number of 
Modes which, by general consent, are attributed to them, but 
Grammarians differ as to the number of modes which should 
be attributed to the same language. As Modes represent 
the conceptions and affections of the mind, they might be as 
varied and extended as those affections. There might be the 
Indicative, the Subjunctive, the Potential, the Optative, the 
Imperative, Infinitive, Vocative, Precative, Interrogative, 
Causal, Reflective, &c. Modes are defined by Priscian, 
" Modi sunt diversse inclinationes animi, quas varise conse- 
quuntur declinationes verbi." Modes represent the different 
feelings of the mind, to which feelings the varied inflections 
of the verb are adapted. It is said that the Arabic has thir- 
teen Modes, the Russian seven, the Sanscrit six, the Anglo- 
Saxon four, the same number which some of the most re- 

R 



258 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

spectable Grammarians have assigned to the English as re- 
ceived by inheritance from the mother tongue. See § 269. 

THE PARTICIPLES. 

§ 277. A Participle is a Verbal Adjective, differing from 
other adjectives by carrying with it the idea of time. It is 
so called from the Latin praticeps^ partaking, because it 
partakes of the nature of the Verb and the Adjective. 

There are two participles : the Present, called, also, the 
Imperfect and the Active participle; as. Loving; and the 
Past, called, also, the Perfect and Passive participle ; as. 
Loved, written. Besides these, there are certain forms call- 
ed Compound participles ; as. Being loved ; having loved ; 
having been loved. The last two forms are often called the 
Compound perfect. In Anglo-Saxon the participle, like the 
adjective, was declined ; In English, like the adjective, it is 
not declined. 

THE PRESENT PARTICIPLE. 

§ 278. The Present Participle ends in-mg*, and expresses 
the continuance of an action, state, or being ; as. He was 
loving ; they were sleeping. 

1. In Anglo-Saxon the forms are -and and -ande ; as, hind- 
and, hindande = binding. Like the Latin participle in -ns, 
it was originally declined. In all the Nor e languages, an- 
cient and modern, the -d is preserved. In some of the mod- 
ern provincial dialects of England, strikand and goand are 
said for striking and going. In the Scotch of the modern 
writers we find the form in : 

" The rising sun o'er Galston muirs 
WV glorious light was glintin ; 
The hares were hirplin down the furs, 

The lav'rocks they were chanting — Burns. 

2. This Participle often has the nature of an Adjective ; 
as, A loving friend. It also becomes an Adverb, by receiv- 
ing the termination ly ; as, Lovingly ; and admits of com- 
parison ; as, More lovingly, most lovingly. 

3. This Participle also becomes a Noun, and admits the 
articles; as, '' The burning of London in 1666." "There 



THE PAST PARTICIPLE. 



259 



was a leaning to popery." In this capacity it takes the plural 
form ; as, '' The overflowings of the Nile." 

4. ''It is to be observed, also, that in English there are two 
Infinitives : one in ing^ the same in sound and spelling as 
the Participle Present, from which, however, it should be 
carefully distinguished ; e, g., ' Rising early is healthful,' 
and ' it is healthful to rise early,' are equivalent. Gram- 
marians have produced much needless perplexity by speaking 
of the participle in ' ing^ being employed so and so, when 
it is manifest that that very employment of the word consti- 
tutes it, to all intents and purposes, an infinitive, and not a 
participle. The advantage of the infinitive in ing is that it 
may be used either in the nominative or in any oblique case ; 
not, as some suppose, that it necessarily implies a habit ; 
e. g"., ' Seeing is believing ;' ' there is glory in dying for one's 
country.' " 

While Whately thus proposes to class the Present Parti- 
ciple with the Infinitive Mode, Kiihner classes the Infinitive 
Mode with the participles. In the present state of philology 
the common classij&catijon may bo conveniently adhered to. 

THE PAST PARTICIPLE. 

§ 279. The Past Participle, called, also, the Perfect, or 
the Passive Participle, has different terminations, according 
as it comes from the Strong Conjugation or the Weak Con- 
jugation. For the meaning of the terms strong and weak, 
see § 291. 

I. The participle in -en; as. Spoken. In the Anglo-Sax- 
on, the participle formed from verbs in the strong conjuga- 
tion always ended in -en; as, bunden. In English, this -en 
is often wanting ; as, bound ; the word bounden being anti- 
quated. Words, when the -en is wanting, may be viewed in 
two lights : 1. They may be looked upon as participles that 
have lost their termination ; 2. They may be considered as 
preterites with a Participial sense. 

1. In all words in which the Vowel of the Plural differs 
from that of the Singular in Anglo-Saxon, the Participle 
takes the Plural form ; as. Drank, drunk, drunken. See § 
257. To say I have drunk, is to use an ambiguous expres- 



260 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

sion, since drunk may be a participle minus its termination, 
or a Preterite with a Participial sense. To say I have drank^ 
is to use a Preterite for a Participle. To say I have drunk- 
en, is to use an unexceptionable form. 

In all words with a double form, as spake and spoke, brake 
and broke, the participle follows the form in o ; as, Spoken, 
broken. Spaken, braken, are forms not in the language. 
There are degrees of laxity, and to say the spear is broke is 
better than to say the spear is brake. 

2. These two statements bear upon the future history of 
the Preterite. That of the two forms sang and sung, one 
will, in the course of long usage, become obsolete, is nearly 
certain ; and as the Plural form is also that of the participle, 
it is the Plural form that is most likely to be the surviving 
one. 

3. As a general rule, we find the participle in -en wher- 
ever the preterite is strong ; indeed, the participle in -en may 
be considered the strong Participle, or the participle of the 
Strong Conjugation. Still, the two forms do not always co- 
incide. In moiu, mowed, mown ; sow, sowed, sown, and sev- 
eral other words, we find the Participle Strong, and the Pre- 
terite Weak. 

4. In the Latin language the change from s to r, and vice 
versa, is very common ; as in the forms honor, honos ; arbor, 
arbos. Of this change we have a few specimens in English. 
The words rear and raise, as compared with each other, are 
examples. In Anglo-Saxon a few words undergo a similar 
change in the Plural Number of the Strong Preterites. 

Ceose, I choose ; ceas, I chose ; curon, we chose ; gecoren, chosen. 
Forleose, Hose; foiieas, I lost ; forluron, ive lost; forloren, lost. 

This accounts for the Participial form forlorn, or lost. In 
Milton's lines, 

«' The piercing air 
Burns frore, and cold performs the effect of fire." 

Paradise Lost, b. ii., 

we have a form from the Anglo-Saxon, gefroren = frozen. 
II. The participle in -d, -t, or -ed ; as. Loved, left, looked. 
In Anglo-Saxon it differed in form from the Preterite,, inas- 
much as it ended in -ed or -t, whereas the Preterite ended in 



CONJUGATION. 261 

-ode^ de, or -te ; as, Lufode, bcernde, dypte, Preterites ; Ge- 
lufod, bcerned, dypt^ Participles. 

The Perfect Participle often loses its verbal character and 
becomes an adjective ; as, A drunken man ; a concealed 
plot. In this character it admits of comparison ; as, A more 
admired artist ; a most respected magistrate. A few of these 
Verbal adjectives receive the termination of -ly and become 
Adverbs; as, Pointedly; more conceitedly ; most dejectedly. 
. § 280. In older writers, and in works written, like Thom- 
son's Castle of Indolence, in imitation of them, we find pre- 
fixed to the past participle the letter y ; as, Yclept = called ; 
yclad = clothed. The following are the chief facts and cur- 
rent opinions on the subject : 

1. It has grown out of the fuller forms of ge : Anglo-Sax- 
on ge, Old Saxon gi, Moeso-Gothic ga. 2. It occurs in each 
and all of the Germanic languages of the Gothic stock. 3. 
It occurs, with a few fragmentary exceptions, in none of the 
Scandinavian languages of the Gothic stock. 4. In Anglo- 
Saxon it occasionally indicates a difference of sense ; as, Iia- 
ten= called; gehaten = promised. 5. It occurs in nouns 
as well as verbs. 6. Its power in the case of nouns is gen- 
erally some idea of association or collection : Moeso-Gothic 
sinps = a journey ; gasinpa ■= a companion. 7. But it has 
a frequentative power. 8. It has also the power of express- 
ing the possession of a quality. 

Anglo-Saxon. English. Anglo-Saxon. Latin, 

Feax, hair. g-e-feax, comatus. 

Heorte, heart. g-e-heart, cordatus. 

Hence it is probable that the ga^ ki^ or gi^ Gothic, is the 
cum of the Latin language. 

' ■' . CONJUGATION. 

§ 281. Conjugation is the distribution of the several In- 
flections or Variations of a Verb in their different Voices, 
Modes, Tenses, Numbers, and Persons. The Conjugation of 
a Verb in the active form is called the Active Voice, and 
that of the passive form the Passive Voice. As English 
Verbs have but few Inflections, their Conjugation consists 
chiefly of variation accomplished by means of Auxiliary Verbs. 



262 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 



CHAPTER XV. 

§ 282. Auxiliary Verbs, sometimes denominated ^e/pz/?^ 
Verbs, perform the same office in the Conjugation of principal 
verbs which Inflection does in the Classical languages. But 
even in those languages the Substantive verb is sometimes 
used as a Helping verb ; as, amatus eram, (3s6ovXeviAevog elrjv. 
They are followed by the other verbs without the prefix to in 
the Infinitive ; as, '' He map g'o." They were originally 
Principal verbs, and some of them retain that character as 
well as that of Auxiliaries. 

CLASSIFICATION OF AUXILIARY VERBS. 

§ 283. The Verbs that are always auxiliary to others are, 
May, can, shall, must ; those that are sometimes auxiliary 
and sometimes Principal verbs are, Will, have, do, be, and 
let. Let and must have no variation. The power of the 
verb as an auxiliary is a modification of the original power 
which it had as a Non-Auxiliary. 

DERIVATION OF AUXILIARY VERBS. 

§ 284. I. Auxiliary, derived from the idea of Possession : 
Have, Anglo-Saxon Habban, to have. It is used both as a 
Principal and as an Auxiliary verb. 

II. Auxiliary verb, derived from the idea of Existence : 
Be, am, avas. a corresponding word is used as an auxiliary 
in both the Latin and the Greek languages. See § 282. 

III. Auxiliary, derived from the idea of Future Destina- 
tioiij dependent on circumstances external to the agent : 
Shall, Anglo-Saxon Sceal==necesse habeo ; debeo. In the 
first person it simply foretells ; as, '' I shall go to New York 
to-morrow." In this phrase the word seems to have no ref- 
erence to obligation ; but in its primitive it denotes to be 
obliged, coinciding nearly with ought. When shall is used 
in the second and third persons, it assumes its primitive sense, 



DERIVATION OF AUXILIARY VERBS. £68 

or one allied to it, implying obligation ; as, when a superior 
commands with authority, You shall go. Hence shall, in the 
first person, foretells ; in the second and third, promises, com- 
mands, or expresses determination. See § 261. 

Should ( preterite of shall) expresses duty, suppositions ; 
as, <' You should pay the money." '^ If it should rain to- 
morrow, I shall not be able to keep my promise." Should is 
also used to express an opinion doubtfully or modestly; as, "I 
should think so." 

IV. Auxiliary, derived from the idea of Future Destina- 
tion, dependent on the volition of the agent : Will, Anglo- 
Saxon Willan. Will, in the first person, not only foretells, 
hut promises ; in the second and third, it onlj foretells. 

Would (preterite of will) properly implies Volition, but, 
like should, is frequently used as a simple future, dependent 
on. a verb of past time ; as. He said it would rain to-day ; he 
promised me that he should go to-morrow. 

1. There is the same difference between would and should 
that there is between will and shall, when used with the past 
tenses. Would promises or threatens in the first person, and 
simply foretells in the others. Should simply foretells in the 
first person, and promises or threatens in the other persons. 

2. When the second and third persons are represented as 
the subjects of their own expressions, shall foretells, as in the 
first person ; as, '' He says that he shall be a loser by this 
bargain ;" " Do you suppose you shall go ?" Will, in such 
instances, promises, as in the first person; as, *' You say that 
you will be present." " He says he will attend to the busi- 
ness." 

3. In Interrogative sentences shall and will have, in gen- 
eral, a meaning nearly opposite to what they have in affirma- 
tive sentences. Shall, used interrogatively, in the first, sec- 
ond, and third persons, refers to another's will; thus, " Shall 
I go ?" signifies. Will you permit me to go ? Will, used 
interrogatively, in the second and third persons, denotes 
volition or determination in the subject ; as, *' Will you 
go?" 

4. When the verb is in the Subjunctive Mode, the mean- 
ing of shall and ivill undergoes some alteration ; thus, '' He 



264 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

shall proceed" expresses a command, but ''If he shall pro- 
ceed" expresses a mere future contingency. 

V. Auxiliary, derived from the idea of Power, dependent 
upon circumstances external to the agent : May, Anglo-Saxon 
Magan. " He may purchase the field if he pleases." " He 
might (preterite) purchase the field if he pleased." May, 
when it stands before its subject, expresses a wish : May he 
come. Might it but turn out well. 

VI. Auxiliary, derived from the idea of Power, dependent 
on circumstances internal to the agent : Can, Anglo-Saxon 
Cunnan = to know how to do. May is simply permissive, 
can is potential. " May et can cum eorum preteritis might 
et could potentiam innuunt ; cum hoc discrimine : May et 
might vel de jure vel saltem de rei possibilitate dicuntur, at 
can et could de viribus agentis." — Wallis, p. 107. 

VII. Auxiliary, derived from the idea of Necessity : Must, 
Axi^o-^diiLoxi Mot = ought, or necesse est. 

" For as the fisse, if it be dry, 
Mote^ in defaute of water, die." — Gower. 

§ 285. May, and likewise Must and Can (as well as Can 
not), are each used in two senses, which are often confounded 
together. They relate sometimes to Power and sometimes 
to Contingency. 

"When we say of one who has obtained a certain sum of 
money, " Now he may purchase the field he was wishing for," 
we mean that it is in his power ; it is plain that he may, in 
the same sense, hoard up money, or spend it on something 
else, though, perhaps, we are not quite sure, from our knowl- 
edge of his character and situation, that he will not. When, 
again, we say, "It may rain to-morrow," or "The vessel may 
have arrived in port," the expression does not at all relate to 
power, but only to contingency, i. e., we mean, that though 
we are not sure such an event will happen, or has happened, 
we are not sure of the reverse. 

When, again, we say, '' This man, of so grateful a disposi- 
tion, must have eagerly embraced such an opportunity of re- 
quiting his benefactor ;" or of one who approves of the slave 
trade, " He must be very hard-hearted," we only mean to im- 
ply the absence of all doubt on these points. The very no- 



CONJUGATION OF THE AUXILIARY VERBS. 265 

tions of gratitude and of hard-heartedness exclude the idea of 
Compulsion. But when we say that " all men must die," 
or that " a man must go to prison who is dragged by force," 
we mean " whether they will or not ;" that there is no power 
to resist. So, also, if we say that a Being of perfect good- 
ness '« can nof^ act wrong, we do not mean that it is out 
of his power ^ since that would imply no goodness of charac- 
ter, but that there is sufficient reason for feeling that he will 
not. It is in a very different sense that we say of a man fet- 
tered in a prison that he " can noV^ escape, meaning, that 
though he has the will^ he wants the ability. 

VIII. Auxiliary, derived from the idea of Sufferance : Let, 
Anglo-Saxon Lcetan = Suffer, permit. Besides permission, 
it may express ivishes, requests, command, and exhortation. 
It is used only in the Imperative Mode. 

IX. Auxiliary, derived from the idea of Action ; Do, An- 
glo-Saxon Don. Do and did, used as auxiliaries, mark the 
emphatic form of the verb; as, "I do teach ;" "I did teach." 
They are generally used in negative and interrogative sen- 
tences ; as, '•''1 do not fear;" <'<• Did he hear?" It some- 
times supplies the place of another verb ; as, '^ You attend not 
to your studies as he does,^^ that is, as he attends. 

§ 286. Classification of Auxiliary Verbs, in respect to their 
Mode of Construction. Auxiliary verbs combine with oth- 
ers in three ways : 1. With Participles: (a) with the Pres- 
ent or Active participle, I am speaking ; (Z>) with the Past 
or Passive participle, I am beaten ; I have beaten. 2. With 
Infinitives: (a) with an Objective Infinitive, I can speak; (b) 
with the Gerundial Infinitive, I have to speak. 3. With both 
Infinitives and Participles, I shall have done ; I mean to have 
done. 

§ 287. CONJUGATION OF THE AUXILIARY VERBS. 

MAY. 

. present Tense. 

Singalar. PluiaL 

1. I may. 1. We may. 

2. Thou mayest, you may. 2. Ye or you may. 

3. He may. 3. They may. 



266 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

Fast Tense. 

Singular. Plural. 

1. I might. 1. We might. 

2. Thou mightest, you might. 2. Ye or you might. 

3. He might. 3. They might. 





CAN. 


1. 


Present Tense. 

Singular. Plural. 

I can. 1. We can. 


2. 


Thou canst, you can. 2. Ye or you can. 


3. 
1. 


He can. 3. They can. 
Past Tense. 

Singular. PluraL 

I could. 1. We could. 


2. 
3. 


Thou couldst, you could. 2. Ye or you could. 
He could. 3 . They could. 




SHALL. 


1. 


Present Tense. 

Singular. Plurai. 

I shall. 1. We shall. 



2. Thou shalt, you shall. 2. Ye or you shall 

3. He shall. 3. They shall. 

Past Tense. 

Singular. PluraL 



1. 


I should. 




1. 


We should. 


2. 


Thou shouldst, 


you should. 


2. 


, Ye or you should. 


3. 


He should. 


WILL. 


3, 


. They should. 


1. 


Singular. 

I will. 


Present Tense. 

Plural. 

1. We wiU. 


2. 


Thou wilt, you 


will. 


2. 


Ye or you will. 


3. 


He will. 




3. 


They will. 


1. 


Singular. 

I would. 


Past Tense. 
1. 


Plural. 

We would. 



2. Thou wouldst, you would. 2. Ye or you Avould. 

3. He would. 3. They would. 

MUST. 

Present Tense. 

Singular. PluraL 

1. I must. 1. We must. 

2. Thou must, you must. 2. Ye or you must. 

3. He must. 3. They must. 



CONJUGATION OF THE AUXILIARY VERBS. £67 





Present Perfect Tense. 




Singular. Plural. 


1. 


I must have. 1. We must have. 


2. 


Thou 07' you must have. 2. Ye w you must have. 


3. 


He must have. 3. They must have. 




DO. 




INDICATIVE MODE. 




Present Tense. 




Singular. Plural. 


1. 


I do. 1. We do. 


2. 


Thou dost, you do. 2. Ye or you do. 


3. 


He does or doth. 3. They do. 




Past Tense. 




Singular. Plural. 


1. 


I did. 1. We did. 


2. 


Thou didst, you did. 2. Ye or you did. 


3. 


He did. 3. They did. 




INFINITIVE MODE. PARTICIPLES. 




To do. Doing, done, having done. 




HAVE. 




INDICATIVEMODE. 




Present Tense. 




Singular. Plural. 


1, 


, I have. 1. We have. 


2. 


, Thou hast, you have. 2, Ye or you have. 


3. 


, He has or hath. 3. They have. 




Past Tense. 




Singular. Plural 



1. Ihad. 1. We had. 

2. Thou hadst, you had. 2. Ye or you had. 

3. He had. 3. They had. 

Note. — In. the foregoing tenses this verb is used either as a princi- 
pal verb or as an auxiHary. 

Infinitive Mode. — Present Tense, To liave. Perfect Tense, 
To have had. Present Participle, Having. Past or Perfect, 
Had. Compound Perfect, Having had. 

The words did^ hast., hath, has, had, shall, will, are evi- 
dently, as Wallis observes, contracted for doed, havest, havetk^ 
haves, haved, shallsl, willst. 



268 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

THE VERB SUBSTANTIVE. 

§ 288. The Verb Substantive, which is generally dealt 
with as a single Irregular Verb, is made up of Three differ- 
ent Verbs, each of which is Defective in some of its parts. 
The parts which are defective in one verb are supplied by the 
Inflections of one of the others. 

I. Was is Defective, except in the Preterite Tense, where 
it is found both in the Indicative and the Subjunctive. In 
the older stages of the Gothic languages the word has both a 
Full Conjugation and a Regular one. In the Anglo-Saxon 
it has an Infinitive, a Participle Present, and a Participle 
Past. In Moeso- Gothic it is inflected throughout with s ; 
as. Visa, vas, vesuryi, visans. In that language it has the 
power of the Latin maneo = to remain. 

II. Be is inflected, in Anglo-Saxon, throughout the Pres- 
ent Tense, both Indicative and Subjunctive ; found, also, as 
an Infinitive, beon ; as a Gerund, to beonne ; and as a Par- 
ticiple, beonde. 

The ancient form was as follows : 

PRESENT. 

Indicative. Subjunctive. Imperative. 

Singular. Plural. Singular. Plural. Singular. PluraL 

1. Ibe, We be I be, We be. 

2. Thou beest, Ye be. Thou be, Ye be. Be thou. Be ye. 

3. He be, They be. We be, They be. 

It is stated by Grimm, D. C, i., 1051, that the Anglo- 
Saxon forms bed, bist, bi^, beo^, or bed, have not a Present, 
but a Future sense ; that while am means / am, bed means 
I shall be ; and that in the older languages it is only where 
the form am is not found that be has the power of a Present 
form. 

If we consider the word beon, like the word weor^an (see 
below), to mean not so much to be as become ^ we get an el- 



THE VERB SUBSTANTIVE. 



269 



ement of futurity ; and from the idea of futurity we get the 
idea of contingency, and this explains the Subjunctive power 
of be. 

III. Am. The m is no part of the original word, but only 
a sign of the First Person, just as it is in all the Indo-Eu- 
ropean languages. Am, art, are, and is, are not, like am 
and was, parts of different words, but forms of one and the 
same word. This we collect from a comparison of the Indo- 
European languages. 



Sanscrit, 


Asmi, 


Asi, 


Asti, 


Zend, 


Ahmi, 


Ani, 


Ashti. 


Greek, 


niii, 


E?c, 


EL 


Latin, 


Sum, 


Es, 


Est. 


Lithuanic, 


Esmi, 


Essi, 


Esti. 


Old Slavonic, 


Yesmi, 


Yesi, 


Yesty. 


Moeso- Gothic, 


Im, 


Is, 


1st. 


1 iln SSfivrm 




Is hist, 
Eart, 


I^t 


Anglo-Saxon, 


Eom, 


JLoi/. 

Is. 


Icelandic, 


Em, 


Ert, 


Er. 


English, 


Am, 


Art, 


Is. 



1. The Substantive Verb is used, 1st. As an Auxiliary in 
the Passive Voice. 2d. As a Copula, in connecting the pred- 
icate of a proposition with the subject. 3d. In Predicating 
pure or absolute existence ; as, God is ; that is, God exists. 
In the following example it is used in each of the last two 
senses: "We believe that thou art, and that thou art the 
rewarder of them who diligently seek thee." It v^as called 
by the Latins the Substantive verb, in distinction from verbs 
which, besides the copula, contain in themselves an attribute, 
and which are called Adjective verbs. See § 401. 

2. This verb differs so much from other verbs, that it is 
separated from them by some grammarians and classed with 
relational words, as if its office were merely to indicate a re- 
lation, viz.. that of the predicative adjective or substantive 
to the subject, or else those of mode, time, and personality. 
See § 134. 

§ 289. Worth is a fragment of the Anglo-Saxon iveor^- 
an, to be, or to become. 



270 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

" Woe worth the chase, woe worth the day 
That cost thy life, my gallant gray." — Lady of the Lake. 

" Thus saith the Lord God, ' Howl ye and say, woe worth 
the day.' " — Ezekiel, xxx., 2. 

§ 290. CONJUGATION OF THE VERB "TO BE." 
PRINCIPAL PARTS. 





Present, Am. 




Fast, Was. Ferf, Fa 

INDICATIVE MODE. 


1. 


Singular. 

I am. 




Fresent Tense. 

Plural 

1. We are. 


2. 


Thou art, you 


are. 


2. Ye or you are. 


3. 


He is. 




3. They are. 



Fast Tense {Preterite). 

Singular. Plural. 

1. I was. 1. We were. 

2. Thou wast, you were. 2. Ye or you were. 

3. He was. 3. They were. 

Future Te?tsa (Predictive). 

Singular. Plural. 

1. I shall be. 1. We shall be. 

2. Thou wilt be, you will be. 2. Ye or you will be. 

3. He wiU be. 3. They will be. 

Future Tense (Promissive). 

Singular. Plural. 

1. I will be. . 1. WewiUbe. 

2. Thou shalt be, you shall be. 2. Ye or you shall be. 

3. He shaU be. 3. They shall be. 

Present Perfect Tense. 

Sir^guIar. Plural. 

1. I have been. 1. We have been. 

2. Thou hast been, you have been. 2. Ye or you have been. 

3. He has been. 3. They have been. 

Past Perfect Tense. 

Singular. Plural. 

1. I had been. , 1. We had been. 

2. Thou hadst been, you had been. 2. Ye or you had been. 

3. He had been. 3. They had been. 



CONJUGATION OF THE VERB "TO BE." 271 

Future Perfect Tense (Fredictive). 

Singular. Plural. 

1. I shall have been. 1. We shall have been. 

2. Thou wilt have been, you will ) „ ^^ -n t, i, 

-' \ 2. Ye or you will have been, 

have been. ) 

3. He will have been. 3. They will have been. 

Future Perfect Tense (Promissive). 

Singular. Plural. 

1. I will have been. 1. We will have been. 

2. Thou Shalt have been, you ) ^^ ye or you shall have been. 

shall have been. ) 

3. He shall have been. 3. They will have been. 

SUBJUNCTIVE MODE. 

Present Tense. 

Singular. Plural. 

1. If I be. 1. If we be. 

2. If thou be, if you be. 2. If ye or you be. 

3. If he be. 3. If they be. 

Present Tense, Second Form. 

Singular. Plural. 

1. If I am. 1. If we are. 

2. If thou art, if you are. 2. If ye or you are. 

3. If he is. 3. If they are. 

Past Tense. 

Singular Plural. 

1. If I were. 1. If we were. 

2. If thou wert, if you were. 2. If ye or you were. 

3. If he were. 3. If they were. , 

Past Tense, Second Form. 

Singular. Plural. 

1. If I was. 1. If we were. 

2. If thou wast, if you were. 2. If ye or you were. 

3. If he was. 3. If they were. 

Future Tense. 

Singular. Plurai. 

1. If I shall or will be. 1. If we shall m' will be. 

2. If thou shalt or wilt be, if you ) o t^ in -n i. 

, „ .„ T ' -^ } 2. it ye or you shall w will be. 

shall or will be. ) 

3. If he shall or will be. 3. If they shall or will be. 

Present Perfect Tense. 

Singular. Plural. 

1. If I have been. 1. If we have been. 

2. If thou hast been, if you have ) ^ ^^ , , 

■I > 2. ii ye or you have been. 

3. If he has been. ^ 3. If they have been. 



272 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

Past Perfect Tense. ^ 

Singular. Plural 

1. If I had been. 1. If we had been. 

2. Ifthou hast been, ifyou had been. 2. If ye or you had been. 

3. If he had been 3. If they had been. 

Future Perfect Tense. 

Singular. Plural. 

1. If I shall or will have been. 1. If we shall or wiU have been. 

2. Ifthou shalt or wilt have been, 2. If ye or you shall or will have 

ifyou shall or will have been. been. 

3. If he shall or will have been. 3. If they shall or will have been. 

The Potential forms are converted into the Subjunctive by- 
prefixing if ox some similar Conjunction. See § 271. 

POTENTIAL MODE. 

Present Tense. 

Singular. Plural. 

1. I may, can, or must be. 1. We may, can, or must be. 

c. 5 Thou mayest, canst, or must be. „ j Ye may, can, or must be. 

* \ You may, can, or must be. ' ( You may, can, or must be. 

3. He may, can, or must be. 3. They may, can, or must be. 

Past Tense. 

Singular. Plural. 

L I might, could, would, or should be. 1. We might, could, would, or should be. 
, Thou mightest, couldst, wouldst, or , y^ ^.^j^^^ could, would, or should be. 



2. < shouldst be. 

( You might, could, would, or should 



, or e 

be. ( 



You might, could, would, or should be. 



Present Perfect Te?ise. 

Singular. Plural 

1. I may, can, or must have been. 1. We may, can, or must have been. 

( Thou mayest, canst, or must have been, o 5 ^^ ^^^' ^^"' °^ i^ust have been. 
' ( You may, can, or must have been. ' ( You may, can, or must have been, 

3. He may, can, or must have been. 3. They may, can, or must have been. 

Past Perfect Tense. 

Singular. Plural. 

1. I might, could, would, or should have 1. We might, could, would, or should have 

been. been. 

Thou mightest, couldst, wouldst, or f Ye might, could, would, or should have 

shouldst have been. _ j been. 

'^ You might, could, would, or should ' j You might, could, would, or should 

have been. v have been. 

3, He might, could, would, or should 3. They might, could, would, or should 

have been. have been. 

INFINITIVE MODE. 

Present, To be. Present Perfect, To have been. 



THE STRONG CONJUGATION. 

IMPERATIVE MODE. 

Present Tense. 

Sing., 2. Be. or \ f *^™- Plur., 2. Be, or \ f^"- 

^ /Be you. (Be you. 

3. Let him be. 3. Let them be. 

PARTICIPLES. 

p / "R • i P«s^ or Perfect, Been. 

( Compound Perfect^ Having been. 



273 



CHAPTER XVIL 

THE STRONG OR ANCIENT CONJUGATION. 

§ 291. Verbs of the Strong Conjugation form their Past 
(or Preterite) Tense by simply changing the Vowel. Thus 
Sang is formed from Sing by changing i into a ; fell (the 
past tense) from fall^ the present, by changing the a into e. 
They are called Strongs because the preterite is thus formed 
independently from within themselves, without any addition. 
Verbs like fill are called Weak, because they require the aid 
of addition from without to the present, to form the preter- 
ite ; as, Fill, filled. Here the addition of the sound of d is 
necessary. See § 299. 

§ 292. Verbs of the Strong Conjugation form their Parti- 
ciple Passive by the addition of -en, generally accompanied 
by a change of vowel ; as. Speak, spoken. Sometimes the 
-en, in the present language, is omitted ; as. Find, found. 
In all these cases it must especially be remembered that this 
rejection of the -en occurs in the later stages of our language. 
In words like found the original participle was funden, and so 
on throughout. In many cases both forms occur ; as, drink ; 
participle drunken or drunk. 

§ 293. The vowel of the Participle is often, though not 
always {took, taken), the same as the vowel of the past 
tense ; as. Spoke, spoken. When this is the case, and when, 
at the same time, the -en (or -n) is rejected, the past tense 
and the participle passive have the same form ; as, 1 found ; 
I have found. In this case it seems as if the past tense were 



274 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

used for the participle. Now it is only in a few words, and 
in the most modern forms of our language, that this is really 
done ; as. Hold, present ; held, past ; holden, obsolete past ; 
held, past. The participle is naturally formed independent 
of the preterite. 

The Participles Passive are exhibited in the fourth and 
fifth columns of the ensuing list. The fourth column con- 
tains the full participles in -en (many of which are more or 
less obsolete) ; the fifth those where the n is omitted. The 
asterisk (^) denotes that those words are more or less obso- 
lete. The note of interrogation (?) denotes that it is mat- 
ter of doubt whether the word to which it is attached be suf- 
ficiently established by usage. 

§ 294. The Past Tenses of the strong verbs are exhibited 
in the second and third columns of the ensuing list, the sec- 
ond column being appropriated to those that have two forms. 
The asterisk (^) denotes that the word to which it is at- 
tached is obsolete. The letter p stands for plural, and it is 
supposed that the forms by the side of which it appears are 
derived from the plural forms, as exhibited in § 257, or from 
(what is the same thing) those of the second person singular, 
as exhibited in the same section. 

Several strong verbs have two forms of the past tense ; as, 
Spake, spoke ; sang, sung. Some of these double forms are 
capable of explanation. See § 257. 

FIRST CLASS. 
Present. Past Tense. Past Tense. Participle. Particijile. 

(First Form.) (Second Form.) (Full Form.) (Shortened Form.) 

Fall, Fell, Fallen, 

Befall, Befell, Befallen, 

Hold, Held, Holden, Held. 

Here the sound of o is changed into that of ^. Here must 
be noticed the natural tendency of a to become o, since the 
forms in the Anglo-Saxon are, Ic fealle, I fall ; Ic feoll, I 
fell ; Ic healde, I hold ; Ic heold, I held. 

SECOND CLASS. 

Here the Preterite ends in ew. Words of this class are 
distinguished from those of class iii. by the different form of 



THE STRONG CONJUGATION. 



275 



the Present Tense. In these words the w has grown out of 
a gj as may be seen from the Anglo-Saxon forms. The 
word See^ Anglo-Saxon geseah, belongs to this class. 

Present. 

Draw, 



Show, , 

Slay, 

Fly, 

Blow, 

Crow, 

Know, 

Grow, 

Throw, 



Pasi Tense. 

(First Form.) 

Drew, 
Shew, 
Slew, 
Flew, 



Blew, 

Crew, 

Knew, 

Grew, 

Threw, 



Past Tense. 

(Second Form.) 



Participle. 

(Full Form.) 

Drawn, 
Shown, 
Slain, 
Flown, 



Participle. 

(Shortened Form.) 



THIRD CLASS. 



Blown, 

^Crown, 

Known, 

Grown, 

Thrown, 



Here an o before w in the Present becomes e before w in 
the Preterite. 



FOURTH CLASS. 



Let, 



Let, 



Let. 



In the Anglo-Saxon the Present form was Ic Isete, the 
Preterite Ic let. 



FIFTH CLASS. 



Beat, 



Beat, 



Beaten, Beat. 



In Anglo-Saxon the forms Ic beate, Ic beot. 



Come, 
Overcome, 



SIXTH CLASS. 

Came, — 

Overcame, — 



Come. 
Overcome. 



Anglo-Saxon Cume, com, cumen. 



Heave, 

Cleave, 

Weave, 

Freeze, 

Steal, 

Speak, 

Swear, 



^Hove, 

^Clove, 

Wove, 

Froze, 

Stole, 

Spoke, 

Swore, 



SEVENTH CLASS. 

^Hoven, 

Cloven, 

Woven, 

Frozen, 

Stolen, 

Spoken, 

Sworn, 



^Clave, 



^Stale, 

^Spake, 

^Sware, 



276 



ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 



Present. 

Bear, 

Bear, 

Forbear, 

Tear, 

Shear, 

Wear, 

Break, 

Shake, 

Take, 

Forsake, 

Stand, 



Past Tense, 

(First Form.) 

Bore, 

Bore, 

Forbore, 

Tore, 

^Shore, 

Wore, 

Broke, 

Shook, 

Took, 

Forsook, 

Stood, 



Past Tense. 

(Second Form.) 

^Bare, 
^Bare, 

=^Tare, 

^Ware, 
Brake, 



Understand, Understood, 



Get, 

Beget, 

Forget, 



Got, 
Begot, 
Forgot, 
Quoth, 



#Gat, 
^Begat, 



Participle. 

(Full Form.) 

Borne, 

Born, 

Forborne, 

Torn, 

Shorn, 

Worn, 

Broken, 

Shaken, 

Taken, 

Forsaken, 



Gotten, 

Begotten, 

Forgotten, 



Participle. 

(Shortened Form.) 



?Tore. 



?Broke. 



Stood. 

Understood. 

?Got. 

?Begot. 

Forgot. 



In this Class the sounds of the ee in feet and of the a in' 
fate (spelled ea or aj are changed into o or oo. All the 
words with Secondary forms will appear again in class viii. 







EIGHTH CLASS. 


Speak, 


Spoke, 


^Spake, 


Spoken, 


Break, 


Broke, 


Brake, 


Broken, 


Cleave, 


Clove, 


^Clave, 


Cloven, 


Steal, 


Stole, 


"^Stale, 


Stolen, 


Eat, 


Ate, 


Eat, 


Eaten, 


Seethe, 


^Sothe, 


^Sod, 


Sodden, 


Tread, 


Trod, 


^Trad, 


Trodden, 


Bear, 


Bore, 


^Bare, 


Born, 


Tear, 


Tore, 


^Tare, 


Torn, 


Swear, 


Swore, 


=^Sware, 


Sworn, 


Wear, 


Wore, 


^Ware, 


Worn, 


Bid, 


Bade, 


Bid, 


Bidden, 


Sit 


Sate 




^Sitten, 
Given, 


Give, 
Lie 


Irfl'XrP 




Lay, 










Get, 


Got, 


^Gat, 


Gotten, 



?Broke. 



Eat. 



Trod. 



?Tore. 



Bid. 

Sat. 



Got. 



THE STRONG CONJUGATION. 



277 



Present. Past Tense. Past Tense. Participle. Participle. 

(First Form.) (Second Form.) (Full Form.) (Shortened Form.) 

Forgive, Forgave, Forgiven, 

Forbid, Forbade, Forbid, Forbidden, Forbid. 

1. In this Class the sound of the ee in feet and the a in 
fate (spelled ea) is changed into a. 

2. In speak, cleave, steal, the ea has the same power with 
the ee in freeze and seethe. 

3. The same view may be taken of the ea in break, bear, 
tear, swear, wear. In these words the ea was or is, to a 
greater or less extent, pronounced like ee or e. 







NINTH CLASS. 




Wake 


Woke, 

Awoke, 

^Lode, 

^Grove, 

^Shope, 

Took, 

Shook, 




Waken, 

Awaken, 

Laden, 

Graven, 

Shapen, 

Taken, 

Shaken, 




Awake, 










Grave, 
Shape, 
Take, 

fthakp 


















Forsake, 

Here tt 
in book. 






le a in fate 


is changed either into o 


in note or ( 


Strike, 


Struck, 

E 


TENTH CLASS. 


Struck. 


LEVENTH CLASS. 


Eise, 
Arise, 
Abide, 
Shine, 

Smite, 


Rose, 
Arose, 
Abode, 
Shone, 

Smote, 


^Ris, 
^Aris, p. 


Risen, 

Arisen, 

Abidden, 










Shone. 
( =^Smit. 
> ?Smote. 


^Smit, p. 


Smitten, 


Ride, 


Rode, 


^Rid, p. 


Ridden, 


j ?Rode. 
> #Rid. 


Stride, 


Stirode, 


^Strid, p. 


Stridden, 


j ?Strode. 
I =^Strid. 


Glide 


^Glode, 

Drove, 

Throve, 




=^Glidden, 

Driven, 

Thriven, 


^Glid. 






Thrive, 







278 



ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 



Present. 

Chide, 

Slide, 

Strive, 

Write, 

Climb, 



Past Tense. 

(First Form.) 

^Chode, 

^Slode, 

Strove, 

Wrote, 

Clomb, 
^Slat, 



Past Tense. 

(Second Form.) 

Chid, 
^Slid, p. 



Participle. 

(Full Form.) 

Chidden, 

Slidden, 

Striven, 



Participle. 

(Shortened Form.) 

?Chid. 
?Slid. 



Writ, p. Written, 



1^ 



?Wrote. 
Writ. 



Slit, ^Slat, Slit,;?. ^Slitten, Slit. 

Bite, ^^Bat, Bit,;?. Bitten, Bit. 

In this Class we find the Secondary forms accounted for 
by the difference in form between the Singular and the 
Plural numbers. 



Swim, 
Begin, 
Spin, 
Win, 

Sing, 

Swing, 

Spring, 

Sting, 

Ring, 

Wxing, 

Fling, 

Cling, 

^Hing, 

String, 

Sling, 

Sink, 

Drink, 

Shrink, 

Stink, 

^Swink, 

Slink, 

Swell, 

Melt, 

Help, 

Delve, 



Swam, 

Began, 

^Span, 

=^Wan, 

Sang, 

^rSwang, 

^Sprang, 

'Y^Stangj 

-A-Rang, 

^^Wrang, 

^Flang, 

'^Clang, 

Hang, 

^Strang, 

^Slang, 

Sank, 

Drank, 

^Shrank, 

^Stank, 

^Swank, 

^Slank, 

^Swoll, 

^Molt, 

:^Holp, 

^Dolve, 



TWELFTH CLASS. 

Swum, p. 

Begun, p. 

Spun, p. 

Won, p. 

Sung, p. ^Sungen, 

Swung, p. 

Sprung, p. ' 

Stuns:, p. 



Rung, p. 
Wrung, p. 
Flung, p. 
Clung, p. 
Hung, p. 
Strung, p. 
Slung, p. 
Sunk, p. 
Drunk, p. 
Shrunk, p. 
Stunk, p. 
Swunk, p. 
Slunk, p. 



Sunken, 

Drunken, 

Shrunken, 

Swunken, 

Swollen, 
Molten, 
^Holpen, 
^Dolven, 



Swum. 

Begun. 

Spun. 

Won. 

Suns:. 

Swung. 

Sprung. 

Stung. 

Rung. 

Wrung. 

Flung. 

Clung. 

Hung. 

Strung. 

Slung. 

Sunk. 

Drunk. 

Shrunk. 

Stunk. 

Swunk. 

Slunk. 



GENERAL STATEMENTS. 



279 



Present. Past Tense. Past Tense. Participle. 



Big, 

Stick, 

"Run, 

Burst, 

Bind, 

Find, 

Grind, 

Wind, 



(First Form.) 

Dug, 

^Stack, 

Ran, 

^Brast, 

^Band, 

^Fand, 

^Grand, 

^Wand, 



(Second Form.) 

Stuck, 

Run, p. 

Burst, 

Bound, 

Found, 

Ground, 

Wound, 



(Full Form.) 



Bursten, 
Bounden. 



Participle. 

(Shortened Form,) 

Dug. 
Stuck. 



Burst. 

Bound. 

Found. 

Ground. 

Wound. 



In this Class the Vowels are short (dependent) throughout, 
with the exception of bind, find^ grind, and wind. With 
the exception of run and burst, the vowel of the Present 
Tense is either i or e. 

THIRTEENTH CLASS. 

Choose, Chose, Chosen. 

GENERAL STATEMENTS. 

§ 295. I. Besides the verbs which are strong in both lan- 
guages, there are other verbs which are strong in the Anglo- 
Saxon, but weak in the English; as, Ceorf, cearfy wade^ 
wad, Anglo- Saxon ; Carve, carved, wade, loaded, English. 
II. Many strong verbs become weak, w^hile no weak verb be- 
comes strong. III. All the strong verbs are- of Saxon origin ; 
none are classical. IV. The great number of them are 
strong throughout the Gothic tongues. V. No new word is 
ever, upon its first introduction, inflected according to the 
strong conjugation. It is always weak. As early as A.D. 
1085, the French word Adouber = dubb, was introduced into 
the English. Its preterite was dubbade. VI. All Derived 
verbs are inflected weak. The Intransitive forms, drink and 
lie, are Strong ; the Transitive forms, drench and lay, are 
Weak. 

§ 296. Obsolete Forms. — Instead of lept, slept, mowed, 
and snowed, we find, in the Provincial dialects and in the 
older writers, the strong forms lep, slep, mew, snew, &c. 
Here there are two forms, and each form is of a different 
conjugation. 

Double Forms. — In lep and mew we have two forms, of 



280 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

which only one is current. In swoll and swelled^ in clomb 
and climbed^ and in hung and hanged, we have two forms, 
of which both are current. These latter are true Double 
forms, of which there are two kinds: 1. Those like swoll and 
swelled, where there is the same Tense, but a different Con- 
jugation. 2. Those like spoke and spake, where the Tense 
is the same and the Conjugation the same, but where the 
form is different. 

§297. CONJUGATION OF THE STRONG VERB "TO 

TAKE." 

(Commonly called Irregular.) 

ACTIVE VOICE. 

Principal Parts. 
Present, Take. Past, Took. Perf. Part., Taken. 

INDICATIVE MODE. 

Present Tense. 

Singular. Plural. 

1. I take. 1. We take. 

2. Thou takest, you take. 2. Ye or you take. 

3. He taketh or takes. 3. They take. 

Past Tense {Preterite). 

Singular. Plural. 

1. I took. 1. We took. 

2. Thou tookest, you took. 2. Ye or you took. 

3. He took. 3. They took. 

Future Tense {Predictive). 

Singular. Plura]. 

1. I shall take. , 1. We shall take. 

2. Thou wilt take, you will take. 2. Ye or you will take. 

3. He will take. 3. They will take. 

Future Tense (Promissive). 

Singular. Plural. 

1. I will take. 1. We will take. 

2. Thou shalt take, you shall take. 2. Ye or you shall take. 

3. He shall take. 3. They shall take. 

Present Perfect Tense. 

Singular. Plural 

1. I have taken. 1. We have taken. 

2. Thou hast taken, you have taken. 2. Ye or you have taken. 

3. He has taken. 3. They have taken. 



THE STRONG CONJUGATION. 281 

^ast Perfect Tense. 

Singular. Plural. 

1. I had taken. 1. We had taken. 

2. Thou hadst taken, you have \ ^ ^r i j x i 

•' \2.Ye or you had taken, 

taken. ) 

3. He had taken. 3. They had taken. 

Future Perfect Tense {Predictive). 

Singular. Plural. 

1. I shall have taken. 1. We shall have taken. 

2. Thou wilt have taken, you will \ ^ -^r -n i x i 

•^ ^ 2. Ye or you will have taken, 

have taken. ) 

3. He will have taken. 3. They will have taken. 

Future Perfect Tense {Promissive). 

Singular. Plural. 

1. I will have taken. ^ 1- We will have taken. 

2. Thou shalt have taken, you ) o -xr i n i x i 

, ,, , , 'V v 2. Ye or you shall nave taken, 

shall have taken. ) 

3. He shall have taken. 3. He shall have taken. 

SUBJUNCTIVE MODE. 

Present Tense. 

Singular. \, Plural. 

1. If I take. 1. If we take. 

2. If thou take, if you take. 2. If ye or you take. 

3. If he take. 3. If they take. 

§ 298. The Subjunctive Mode of Common verbs in the Act- 
ive Voice has two forms in the Present Tense, one of which 
is given in the conjugation of the verb To take, and the 
other is the same as that of the Indicative. The forms for 
the other Tenses of that voice are the same as those for the 
Indicative, with this difference in the Futures, that the dis- 
tinction between shall and will in the different persons of the 
verb which obtains in the Indicative is not observed in the 
Subjunctive Mode. Thus we can say, If I shall take, if 
thou shalt take, if he shall take ; and with the other we can 
say, If I will take, if thou wilt take, if he will take. In the 
Passive Voice the Subjunctive Mode has two forms in the 
Present and Past Tenses, one of which is given, and the 
other is the same as the Indicative. The other Tenses, with 
the exception of the Futures, which are given, are the same 
as the Indicative. 



282 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 



POTENTIAL MODE. 

Present Tense. 

Singular- Plural. 

i. I may, can, or must take. 1. W^ may, can, or must take. 

2. Thou mayest, canst, or must take. 2. Ye may, can, or must take. 
You may, can, or must take. You may, can, or must take. 

3. He may, can, or must take. 3. They may, can, or must take. 

Vast Tense. 

Singular. PIuraL 

1. I might, could, would, or should take. 1. We might, could, would, or should taKe, 

2. Thou mightest, couldst, wouldst, or 2. Ye might, could, would, or should take. 

shouldst take. 
You might, could, would, or should take. You might, could, would, or should take. 

3. He might, could, would, or should take. 3. They might, could, would, or should take. 

Present Perfect Tense. 

Singular. Plural. 

1. 1 may, can, or must have taken. 1. We may, can, or must have taken. 

2. Thou mayest, canst, or must have taken. 2. Ye may, can, or must have taken. 
You may, can, or must have taken. You may, can, or must have taken. 

3. He may, can, or must have taken. 3. They may, can, or must have taken. 

Past Perfect Tense. 

Singular. Plural. 

1. 1 might, could, would, or should have 1. We might, could, would, or should have 

taken. taken. 

2. Thou mightest, couldst, wouldst, or 2. Ye might, could, would, or should have 

shouldst have taken. taken. 

You might, could, would, or shouM have You might, could, would, or should have 

taken. taken. 

2. He might, could, would, or should have 3. They might, could, would, or should have 

taken. taken. 

INFINITIVE MODE. 

Present, To take. Present Perfect, To have taken. 

IMPERATIVE MODE. 

Present Tense. 

Sing., 2. Te.ke.or \ ^^f« *""• Plur., 2. Take, or \ Z"-^^ ^'^ 
( Take you. ( Take you. 

3. Let him take. 3. Let them take. 

PARTICIPLES. 

Present, Taldng. S ^^'^ °^' ^'''f''^^ ^^^""- . 

( Compoimd Perfect, Having taken. 

PASSIVE VOICE. 

J . ^ 

INDICATIVE MODE. 

Present Tense. 

Singahr. Plural. 

1. I am taken. 1. We are taken. 

2. Thou art taken, you are taken. 2. Ye or you are taken. 

3. He is taken. 3. They are tak^n. 



THE STRONG CONJUGATION. 283 

Past Tense. 

Singular. Plural. 

1. 1 was taken. 1. We were taken. 

2. Thou wast taken, you were taken. 2. Ye or you were taken. 

3. He was taken. 3. They were taken. 

^ Future Tense {Predictive). 

Singular. Plural. 

1. I shall be taken. 1. We shall be taken. 

2. Thou wilt be taken, you will ) ^ ,^ .„ , 

, , , ^ 2. Ye or you will be taken, 

be taken. ) •' 

3. He will be taken. 3. They will be taken. 

Future Tense (Promissive). 

Singular. Plural. 

1. I will be taken. 1. We will be taken. 

2. Thou shalt be taken, you shall ) ^ ,7. , ^ , 

T_ ^ , ( 2. Ye or you shall be taken, 

be taken. ) 

3. He shall be taken. 3. They shall be taken. 

Present Perfect Tense. 

Singular. Plural 

1. I have been taken. 1. We have been taken. 

2. Thou hast been taken, you ) ^ ,7- , , , 

, , ^ , "^ (• 2. Ye or you nave been taken, 

have been taken. ) •' 

3. He has been taken. 3. They have been taken. 

Past Perfect Tense. 

Singular. Piural. 

1 . I had been taken. 1 . We had been taken. 

2. Thou hast been taken, you ) ^ ,r •,•,-, 

, , ^ , •' > 2, Ye or you had been taken, 

have been taken. ) '' 

3.. He has been taken. 3. They had been taken. 

Future Perfect Tense {Predictive), 

Singular. Plural; 

1. I shall have been taken. 1. We shall have been taken. 

2. Thou wilt have been taken, ) ^ ^^ -n , , 

•n , x. u. 1 \ 2. Ye or you will have been taken, 

you will have been taken. ) *' 

3. He will have been taken. 3. They will have been taken. 

Future Perfect Tense {Promissive). 

Singular. PluraL 

1. I will have been taken. 1. I will have been taken. 

2. Thou shalt have been taken, ) ^ ,^ , ,, , , ^ , 

1 nr T ^ ■, (2. Ye or you shall have been taken, 
you shall have been taken. ) 

3. He shall have been taken. 3. He shall have been taken. 



284 



ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 



Singular. 

1. If I be taken. 

2. If thou be taken. 
If you be taken. 

3. If he be taken. 

Singular. 

1 . If I were taken. 

2. If thou wast taken. 
If you were taken. 

3. If he were taken. 



SUBJUNCTIVE MODE. 

Present Tense. 

Plural. 

1. If we be taken. 

2. If ye be taken. 
If you be taken. 

3. If they be taken. 
Past Tense. 

PluraL 

1 . If we were taken. 

2. If ye were taken. 
If you were taken. 

3. If they were taken. 

Future Tense. 



Singular. 

1. If I shall or will be taken. 

2. If thou shalt or wilt be taken 
If you shall or will be taken. 

3. If he shall or will be taken. 



Singular. 

1. If I shall or will have been 

taken. 

2. If thou shalt or wilt have been 

taken. 
If you shall or will have been 
taken. 

3. If they shall or will have been 

taken. 



1 . If we shall or will be taken. 

2. If ye shall or will be taken. 
If you shall or will be taken. 

3. If they shall or will be taken. 

Future Perfect Tense. 



1. If we shall or will have been 

taken. 

2. If ye shall or wiU have been 

taken. 
If you shall or wiU have been 
taken. 

3. If they shall or will have been 

taken. 



POTENTIAL MODE. 

Present Tense. 

Singular. Plural. 

1. 1 may, can, or must be taken. 1. We may, can, or must be taken. 

2. Thou mayest, canst, or must be taken. 2. Ye may, can, or must be taken. 
You may, can, or must be taken. You may, can, or must be taken. 

3. He may, can, or must be taken. 3. They may, can, or must be taken. 

Past Tense. 

Singular. Plural. 

1. 1 might, could, would, or should be 1. We might, could, would, or should be 

taken. taken. 

2. Thou mightest, couldst, wouldst, or 2. Ye might, could, would, or should be 

shouldst be taken. taken. 

You might, could, would, or should be You might, could, would, or should be 

taken. taken. 

3. He might, could, would, or should be 3. They might, could, would, or should be 

taken. taken. 



THE STRONG CONJUGATION. 285 



Present Perfect Tense. 

Singular. Plural. 

1. 1 may, can, or must have been taken. 1. We may, can, or must have been taken. 

2. Thou mayest, canst, or must have been > „ ^^ i. i. u ^ i 

, -^ >2. Ye may, can, or must have been taken. 

You may, can, or must have been taken. You may, can, or must have been taken. 

3. He may, can, or must have been taken. 3. Thou may, can, or must have been taken. 

Past Perfect Tense. 

Singular. Plural. 

1. 1 might, could, would, or should have 1. We might, could, would, or should have 
been taken. been taken. 

2. Thou mightest, couldst, wouldst, or 2. Ye might, could, would, or should have 

shouldst have been taken. been taken. 

You might, could, would, or should You might, could, would, or should have 

have been taken. been taken. 

3. He might, could, would, or should have 3. They might, could, would, or should have 

been taken. been taken. 

INFINITIVE MODE. 

Present, To be taken. Present Perfect, To have been taken. 

IMPERATIVE MODE. 

Present Tense. 
Sing., 2. Be ( Be thou taken. Plur., 2. Be ( Be ye taken, 
taken, or ( Be you taken. taken, or ( Be you taken. 

3. Let him be taken. 3. Let them be taken. 

PARTICIPLES. 

P / "R ' t Tr i "^^^^ °^ Perfect, Taken. 

' * ( Cojnpound Perfect, Having taken. 

PROGRESSIVE FORMS. ' 

^ The Progressive Form of the Verb is employed to denote 
ah unfinished action or state with definite time, as the com- 
mon form is employed for indefinite time. It is composed 
of the Present Participle and some of the forms of the Verb 
to be^ and in the Potential of certain auxiliary verbs. 

INDICATIVE MODE. 

Present Tense, I am taking. 

Past Tense, I was taking. 

Future, I shall be taking. 

Present Perfect, I have been taking. 

Past Perfect, I had been taking. 

Future Perfect, I shall have been taking. 

SUBJUNCTIVE MODE. 

The forms of the Subjunctive are the same as those of the 



286 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

Indicative and Potential, with some conditional conjunction 
prefixed. The Present and Past Tenses have double forms. 

Present Tense, If I am taking, if I be taking. 
Past Tense, If I was taking, if I were taking. 

POTENTIAL MODE. 

Present Tense, I may, can, or must be taking. 

Past Tense, I might, could, would, or should be taking. 

Present Perfect, I may, can, or must have been taking. 

Past Perfect, I might, could, would, or should have bee& taking. 

IMPERATIVE MODE. 

Present Tense, Be thou taking 

INFINITIVE MODE. 

Present Tense, To be taking. 
Present Perfect, To have been i;aklng. 

EMPHATIC FORMS. 

The Emphatic Form represents an act or state asserted 
with emphasis. It is confined to the Indicative and Im- 
perative Modes in the Active Voice. 

INDICATIVE MODE. 

present Tense, I do take. Past Tense, I did take. 

IMPERATIVE MODE. 

Present Tense, Do thou take. , 

INTERROGATIVE FORMS. 
INDICATIVE MODE. 

Present Tense, Take I ? Do I take ? Am I taking % 
Past Tense, Took I ? Did I take ? Was I taking ? 
Future Tense, Shall I or will I take ? Shall I or will I be takuig ? 
Present Perfect Tense, Have I taken ? Have I been taking ? 
Past Perfect Tense, Had I taken ? Had I been taking ? 
Future Perfect, Shall I or will I have taken ? Shall I or will I have 
been taking ? 

POTENTIAL MODE. 

Present Tense, !May I, can I, or must I take ? 

Past Tense, Might I, could I, should I, or I take ? 

Present Perfect Tense, May I, have I, or must I have taken ? 

Past Perfect, Might I, could I, would I, or should I have taken ? 



THE WEAK CONJUGATION. £87 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

THE WEAK OR MODERN CONJUGATION. 

§ 299. Verbs of the Weak Conjugation form their Past 
Tense or Preterite from the Present by the addition of the 
sound of -d^ 4y or -ed. Hence they are called weak ; they 
require aid from without, instead of being changed from with- 
in, as the strong verbs are. The Past Participle and the 
Preterite have generally the same Form. 

Verbs of the Weak Conjugation are divided into three 
classes. 

§ 300. First Division. — In the Past Tenses of this class 
there is the simple addition of the sound of -d, -t> or -ed, the 
Present Form ; as. Serve, served ; Cry^ cried ; Betray, be- 
trayed ; Instruct, instructed ; Dip, dipped (dipt) ; Toss, 
tossed (tost). To this class belong the greater part of weak 
verbs, and all verbs of foreign origin. 

§ 301. Second Division. — In this class, besides the addi- 
tion of 4, -d, or -ed, the Vowel is shortened ; as. Leave, left. 
It also contains those words which end in -d or -t, and at 
the same time have a short vowel in the Preterite. Such, 
among others, are cut, cost, &c., where the two Tenses are 
alike ; and also bend, rend, where the Preterite is formed from 
the Present by changing -d into -t ; as, Bent, rent. 

'^Qiss[ it is evident that, whenever the Present ends in -t or 
'd, there must be a difficulty in forming the Preterite. Two 
consonants, one being Sonant and the other Surd, can not 
come together in the same syllable, nor can two identical let- 
ters be sounded in the same syllable. 

This difficulty is met, 

I. By inserting a vowel between the -t or -d of the Present 
and, the -t and -d which is the sign of Preterite ; as, Instruct, 
instructed, not instruct,t ; End, ended, not end,d. 

II. By denoting the difference between the Present and 
Preterite of verbs ending in -d or 4, by shortening the vowel 
of the latter tense ; as. Meet, light, shoot, in the Preterite, 



288 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

become met^ lit^ shot; Siudfeed, speedy lead, read hecome fed) 
sped, led, read (red). 

III. By changing the sound of -d into that of -t where the 
vowel of the present tense is short already ; as, Bend, wend, 
gird, gild become, in the Preterite, bentf ivent, girt, gilt. 

IV. By allowing the Preterite to be of the same form as 
the Present ; as, Cut, cut ; cost, cost ; set, set. They al- 
ready end in -t, and already have short vowels. Were the 
vowels long, they would be changed. 

Third Division. — In the third division of weak verbs, the 
Past Tense is formed from the Present by adding -d, 4, or 
-ed, and by changing the vowel of the present ; as. Tell, 
told; sell, sold ; will, would ; shall, should. 

To this Class belong the remarkable Preterites of the verbs 
Seek, Anglo-Saxon sece ; beseech, catch, teach, Anglo-Saxon 
tmce ; bring, Anglo-Saxon bringe ; think, Anglo-Saxon 
fiince ; and work, Anglo-Saxon wyrce ; viz., Sough-t, Anglo- 
Saxon soh'te; besough-t, caugh-t, taugh-t, Anglo-Saxon t(£h' 
te ; brough't, though-t. In all these the final consonant is 
either -g or -k, or else a sound allied to them. When the tend- 
ency of these sounds to become -h and -y, as well as to undergo 
further changes, is remembered, the forms in point cease to be 
anomalous. In wrough-t, from work, Anglo-Saxon ivorh-te, 
there is also a transposition of r. Buy, present ; brought, 
preterite. The g is found in Anglo-Saxon bycge, boh-te. 

§ 302. Made, had. In these words there is nothing re- 
markable but the ejection of a consonant. The Anglo-Saxon 
forms are Macode and hcefde respectively. 

Owe, Present ; ought. Preterite. The forms in Anglo- 
Saxon ah, dhte. As late as the time of Elizabeth owe was 
used for own. The Present form own seems to have arisen 
from the Plural agen, ought of the Anglo-Saxon ah, owed of 
the English owe^debeo, owned of the English owii^pos- 
sideo. The word own, in the expression to oivn a thing, has 
a totally different origin. It comes from the Anglo-Saxon 
an (plural unnon)=I give or grant. 

Durst. In durst the -s and -t are no parts of the origiria. 
word dare. The form durst has not yet been satisfactorily 
explained. The same is true of 77iust. 



THE WEAK CONJUGATION. 28 9 

Wist is, in its present form, a regular Preterite from 
wis = know. Besides these there are wit and wot-=know 
Wit appears to be the root ; wot a strong Preterite. 

Do. In the phrase this ivill do = this will answer the 
purpose, the word do is wholly different from the word do 
meaning to act. In the first case, it is equivalent to the 
Latin valere ; in the second, to the Latin /«cere. Of the 
first, the Anglo-Saxon Inflection is dedh, dugon, dohte; of 
the second, it is do, do^h, dyde. — See Latham, p. 332. 

Yode, the obsolete Preterite of go, now replaced by went,i 
the preterite of wend. The initial g has become y. 

§303. CONJUGATION OF THE WEAK VERB "TO LOVE." 

(Commonly called Regular.) 

ACTIVE VOICE. 

Principal Parts. 
Present, Love. Past, Loved. Perfect Participle, Loved. 

INDICATIVE MODE. 

Present Tense. 

Singular. Plural. 

1. I love. 1. We love. 

2. Thou lovest or you love. 2. Ye or you love. 

3. He loveth or loves. 3. They love. 

Past Tense {Preterite). •- ' 

singular. Plural. 

1. I loved. 1. We loved. 

2. Thou lovedst or you loved. 2. Ye or you loved. '^ 

3. He loved. 3. They loved. 

Future Tense {Predictive). - 

Singular. Plural. 

1. I shall love. 1. We shall love. 

2. Thou wilt love, you will love. 2. Ye or you will love. 

3. He will love. 3. They will love. ' 

Future Te^tse {Promissive). 

Singular. Plural. 

1. I will love. 1. We will love. 

2. Thou shalt love or you shall love, 2. Ye or you shall love. 

3. He shall love. 3. They shall love, 

T 



2 90 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

Present Perfect Tense. 

Singular. Plural. 

1. I have loved. 1. We have loved. 

2. Thou hast loved, you have loved. 2. Ye or you have loved. 

3. He has loved. 3. They have loved. 

Fast Perfect Tense. 

Singular. Plural. 

1. I had loved. 1. We had loved. 

2. Thou hadst loved, you had \ ^ -^r i j i j 

. T •' J 2. Ye or you had loved. 

3. He had loved. 3. They had loved. 

Future Perfect Tense {Predictive). 

Singular. Plural. 

1. I shall have loved. 1. We shall have loved. 

2. Thou wilt have loved, vouv^^ill ) ^ ^r -n i i j 

T T, , '' > 2. Ye or you will have loved, 

have loved. ) 

3. He will have loved. 3. They will have loved. 

Future Tense {Promissive). 

Singular. Plural. 

1. I will have loved. 1. We will have loved. 

2. Thou shalt have loved, you ) ^ ^r mi i i 

.„ T , T •' > 2. Ye or you will have loved, 

will be loved. ) 

3. He shall have loved. 3, They will have loved. 

SUBJUNCTIVE MODE. 

Present Tense. 

Singular. Plural. 

1. If I love. 1. If we love. 

2. If thou or you love. 2. If ye or you love. 

3. If he love. 3. If they love. 

Future Tense. 

Singular. Plural. 

1. If I shall or will love. 1. If we shall or will love. 

2. If thou shalt or wilt love. 2. If ye shall or will love. 
If you shall or will love. If you shall or will love. 

3. If he shall or will love. 3. If they shall or will love. 

Future Perfect Tense. 

Singular. Plural. 

1. If I shall or will have loved. 1. If we shall or will have loved. 

2. If thou shalt or wilt have loved. 2. If ye shall or will have loved. 
If you shall or will have loved. If you shall or will have loved. 

3. If he shall or will have loved. 3. If they shall or will have loved. 




THE WEAK CONJUGATION. £91 



POTENTIAL MODE. 

Present Tense. 

Singular. Plural. 

1. 1 may, can, or must love. 1. We may, can, or must love. 

2. Thou mayest, canst, or must love. 2. Ye may, can, or must love. 
You may, can, or must love. You may, can, or must love. 

3. He may, can, or must love. 3. They may, can, or must love. 

Past Tense. 

Singular. Plural. 

1. 1 might, could, would, or should love. 1. We might, could, would, or should love, 

2. Thou mightest, couldst, wouldst, > „ _, . ,^ ,, ,, i, u i 

, ,j ^ ' ' ' S2. Ye might, could, would, or should love. 

or shouldst love. J 077 

You might, could, would, or should love. You might, could, would, or should love. 

3. He might, could, would, or should love. 3. They might, could, would, or should love. 

Present Perfect Tense. 

Singular. Plural. 

1. 1 may, can, or must have loved. 1. We may, can, or must have loved. 

2. Thou mayest, canst, or must have loved. 2. Ye may, can, or must have loved. 
You may, can, or must have loved. You may, can, or must have loved, 

3. He may, can, or must have loved. 3. They may, can, or must have loved. 

Past Perfect Tense. 

Singular. Plural. 

1. 1 might, could, would, or should have 1. We might, could, would, or should have 
loved. loved. 

2. Thou mightest, couldst, wouldst, or 2. Ye might, could, would, or should have 

shouldst have loved. loved. 

You might, could, would, or should You might, could, would, or should have 

have loved. loved. 

3. He might, could, would, or should have 3. They might, could, would, or should 

loved. have loved. 

INFINITIVE MODE. 

Present, To love. Present Perfect, To have loved. 

IMPERATIVE MODE. 

Present Tense. 

Sfks., 2. Love, orr^ ' Plur., 2. Love, or\- ^ ' 

( Love you. ^ f Love you, 

3. Let him love. 3. Let them love. 

PARTICIPLES. 

p , . ( Past or Perfect, Loved. 

' ^' \ Com;pound Perfect, Having loved. 



292 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 



PASSIVE VOICE. 

INDICATIVE MODE. 

Present Tense. 

Singular. " Plural. 

1. I am loved. 1. We are loved. 

2. Thou art loved, you are loved. 2. Ye or you are loved. 

3. He ig loved. 3. They are loved. 

Fast Teiise. 

Singular. PIuraL 

1. I was loved. 1. We were loved. 

2. Thou wast loved, you were loved. 2. Ye or you were loved. 

3. He was loved. 3. They were loved. 

Future Tense {Predictive). 

Singular. Plural. 

1. I shall be loved. 1. We shall be loved. 

2. Thou wilt be loved, you will be ) ^ ^, -i n i i i 

-i ■, J 2. Ye or you shall be loved. 

3. He will be loved. 3. They shall be loved. 

Future Tense (Promissive). 

Singular. Plural. 

1. I will be loved. 1. We wiU be loved. 

2. Thou shalt be loved, you shall ) ^^ ^r t n i i i 

, , . ( 2. Ye or you shall be loved, 

be loved. ) '' 

3. He shall be loved. 3. They shall be loved. 

Present Perfect Tense. 

Singular. Plural. 

1. I have been loved. 1. We have been loved. 

2. Thou hast been loved, you have ) ^ ^^ ., , . , 

, , , ^ ^ 2. Ye 07* you have been loved, 

been loved. ) *' 

3. He has been loved. 3. They have been loved. 

Past Perfect Tense. 

Singular; Plural. 

1. I had been loved. 1. We had been loved. 

2. Thou hast been loved, you had ) _ ^, t. j -u i j 

, T , •' \ 2. Ye or you had been loved, 

been loved. ) 

3. He has been loved. " 3. They had been loved. 

Future Perfect Tense {Predictive). 

Singular. Plural. 

1. I shall have been loved. 1. We shall have been loved. 

2. Thou wilt have been loved, ) ^ ^^ ^ ^^ ^ ■, i i 

.„ , , , , ^ 2. Ye or you shall have been loved, 
you will have been loved. ) '' 

3. He win have been loved. 3. They shall have been loved. 



THE WEAK CONJUGATION. 



298 



Future Perfect Tense (Fromissive). 

Singular. Plural. 

1. I will have been loved. 1. We will have been loved. 

2. Thou shalt have been loved, ) ^ ,^ i n i i i j 

- -T , T , , > 2. Ye or you shall have been loved, 
you shall have been loved. ) 

3. He shall have been loved. 3. They shall have been loved. 



Singular. 

1. If I be loved. 

2. If thou be loved. 
If you be loved. 

3. If he be loved. 



Singular. 

1 . If I were loved. 

2. If thou wert loved. 
If you were loved. 

3. If he were loved. 



SUBJUNCTIVE MODE. 

Fresent Tfinse. 

Plural. 

1 . If we be loved. 

2. If ye be loved. 
If you be loved. 

8. If they be loved. 

Fast Tense. 

Plural. 

1 . If we were loved. 

2. If ye were loved. 
If you were loved. 

3. If they were loved. 



Future Tense. 

Singular. Plural. 

1. If I shall or will be loved. 1. If we shall or will be loved. 

2. If thou shalt or wilt be loved. 2. If ye shall or will be loved. 
If you shall or will be loved. If you shall or will be loved. 

3. If he shall or will be loved. 3. If they shall 'or will be loved. 

Future F erf eat Tense. 

Singular. Plural. 

1. If I shall or will have been 1. If we shall or will have been 

loved. loved. 

2. Ifthou shalt or wilt have been 2. If ye shall or will have been 

loved. loved. 

If you shall or will have been If you shall or will have been 

loved. loved. 

3. If he shall or will have been 3. If they shall or vidll have been 

loved. loved. 

The other Tenses of the Subjunctive are the same in form 
as those of the Indicative. 



294 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

POTENTIAL MODE. 

Present Tense. 

Singnlar. PlnraL 

1. 1 may, can, or must be loved, 1. We may, can, or must be loved. 

2. Thou mayest, canst, or must be loved. 2. Ye may, can, or must be loved. 
You may, can, or must be loved. You may, can, or must be loved. 

3. He may, can, or must be loved. 3. They may, can, or must be loved. 

Past Tense. 

Singular. Plural. 

1. 1 might, could, would, or should be 1. We might, could, would, or should be 
loved. loved. 

2. Thou mightest, couldst, wouldst, 2. Ye might, could, would, or should be 

or shouldst be loved. loved. 

You might, could, would, or should be You might, could, would, or should be 

loved. loved. 

3. He might, could, would, or should be 3. They might, could, would, or should be 

loved. loved. 

Present Perfect Tense. 

Singular. Plural. 

1. I may, can, or must have been loved. 1. We may, can, or must have been loved. 

2. Thou mayest, canst, or must have been 2. Ye may, can, or must have been loved. 

loved. 
You may, can, or must have been loved. You may, can, or must have been loved. 

3. They may, can, or must have been loved. 3. They may, can, or must have been loved. 

Past Perfect Tense. 

Singular. Plural. 

1. 1 might, could, would, or should have 1. We might, could, would, or should have 
been loved. been loved. 

2. Thou mightest, couldst, wouldst, or 2. Ye might, could, would, or should have 

shouldst have been loved. been loved. 

You might, could, would, or should You might, could, would, or should have 

have been loved. been loved. 

3. He might, could, would, or should have 3. They might, could, would, or should have 

been loved. been loved. 

INFINITIVE MODE. 

Present, To be loved. Present Perfect, To have been loved. 

IMPERATIVE MODE. 

Present Tense. 
Sing., 2. Be ( Be thou loved. Plur., 2. Be ( Be ye loved, 
loved, or (Be you loved. loved, or ( Be you loved. 

3. Let him be loved. 3. Let them be loved. , 

PARTICIPLES. 

-R ' 1 /I i P«Si^ or Perfect, Loved. 

resen , i g • | Compound Perfect, Having been loved. 



IRREGULAR VERBS. £95 



CHAPTER XIX. 

IRREGULAR VERBS. 

§ 304. The number of Irregular Verbs depends on the Rule 
adopted for the formation of Regular Verbs. The more ex- 
clusive the Rule, the more numerous will be the irregulari- 
ties. The more general the Rule, the fewer will be the 
irregularities. 

1. A Rule like this might be adopted, namely, that the 
Preterite is formed by the addition of -t, or -d, or -ed. Now 
this is sufficiently exclusive, since it proscribes not only the 
whole class of the strong verbs, but also words like bent 
and sentj where t exists, but where it does not exist as an 
addition. 

2. Exclusive, however, as the rule in question is, it is 
plain that it might be made more so. The Regular forms 
might, by a rule, be restricted to those in -d. In this case, 
words like wept and burnt would be added to the numerous 
list of irregularities. 

3. Finally, a further limitation might be made by laying 
down as a rule that no word is Regular unless it end in ed. 

§ 305. Vital and Obsolete Processes. — The word moved 
is formed from move by the addition of -d. The addition of 
'd is the process by which the present form is rendered pre- 
terite. The word fell is formed from fall by changing a 
into e. The change of vowel is the process by which the 
Present form is rendered Preterite. Of the two processes 
the result is the same. In what respect do they differ ? 

1. For further illustration, let a new word be introduced 
into the language. Let a Preterite tense of it be formed. 
This Preterite would be formed, not by changing the vowel, 
but by adding -d. No new verb ever takes a strong Preter- 
ite. The like takes place with Nouns. No new substantive 
would form its Plural, like oxen and geese, by adding en or 
by changing the vowel. It would, rather, like fathers and 



296 



ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 



Jiorses, add the sound of z. Now the processes that change 
fally ox, and g-oose into fell, oxen, and geese, inasmuch as 
they cease to operate on language in its present stage, are 
Obsolete Processes ; while those that change 7nove into moved, 
and horse into horses, operating on the language in its present 
stage, are Vital or existing- Processes. 

2. A definition of the word Irregular might be so framed 
as to include all words whose forms could not be accounted 
for by the Vital Processes. Such a definition would, in the 
present English, make words like bent, sought, &c. (the eu- 
phonic processes being allowed for), Regular, and all the 
Strong Verbs Irregular. The very fact of so natural a class 
as that of the strong verbs being reduced to the condition of 
Irregulars invalidates such a definition as this. 



§306. A LIST OF VERBS COMMONLY CALLED IRREG- 
ULAR. 



Present. 

Abide, 
Am or Be, 
Awake, 
Bake, 
Bear, for-, 



Preterite. 

(First Form.) 

Abode, 

Was, 

Awoke, 

Baked, 

Bore, 



Bear (produce), Bore, 

Beat, Beat, 

Begin, Began, 

Behold, Beheld, 

Bend, 

Bereave, 

Beseech, 

Bid, for-, 

Bind, un-, re-, ^Band, 

Bite, ^Bat, 

Bleed, Bled, 

Blow, Blew, 

Break, Broke, 

Breed, ' Bred, 

Bring, Brought, 



Preterite. 

(Second Form.) 



Awaked, 

#Bare, 
^Bare, 



Participle. 

(First Form.) 

Abode, 
Been, 

Baken, 

Borne, 

Born, 

Beaten, 

Begun, 



Participle. 

(Second Form.) 



Awaked. 
Baked. 



Beat. 



Bent, 
Bereft, 

Besought, 

Bade, Bid, 



|™°ld-|j3^,^j, 



Bended, Bent, Bended. 
Bereaved, Bereft, Bereaved. 
Besought, 



Bidden. 



Bid. 



Bound, 

Bit, Bitten, 

Bled, 

Blown, 

=^Brake, Broken, 

Bred, 

Brought 



^^Bounden, Bound. 



Bit 



Broke. 



IRREGULAR VERBS. 



297 



Present. 



Preterite. 

(First Form.) 

Built, 



Burnt, 

^Brast, 

Bought, 

Cast, 

Caught, 

^Chode, 

Chose, 

Clove, 



Build, 

Burn, 

Burst. 

Buy, 

Cast, 

Catch, 

Chide, 

Choose, 

Cleave (to ) 

split), 3 

Cleave, ^Clave, 

Climb, ^Clomb, 

Cling, ^Clang, 

Clothe, Clad, 
Come, be-, over-, Come, 

Cost, Cost, 

Crow, Crew, 

Creep, ^Crope, 

Cut, Cut, 
Dare (venture), Durst, 

Deal, Dealt, 

Delve, ^Dolve, 

Dig, Dug, 
Do this, un-, \j\:t 

over-, i ' 

Draw, Drew, 

Dream, Dreamt, 

Drive, Drove, 

Drink, Drank, 

Dwell, Dwelt, 

Eat, Ate, 

Engrave, . i- 

Fall, be- Fell, 

Feed, Fed, 

Feel, Felt, 

Fight, Fought; 

Find, - ^Fand, 

Flee, Fled, 



Preterite. Participle. 

(Second Forra.) (First Form.) 

Builded, Built, 

Burned, Burnt, 



Burst, 



^Bursten, 

^Boughten, 

Cast, 



^Catched, Caught, 
Chid, Chidden, 

— Chosen, 



( ^Clave, ) 
I Cleft, ] 



^Clave 

Cleft, 

Cleaved 

Climbed, — 

Clung, Clung, 
Clothed, Clad, 

Come, 

Cost, 

Crowed, ^Crown, 
Crept, 

Dared, 
Dealed, 



Cut, 



Dealt, 
Delved, ^Dolven, 



Digged, 



Dug, 
Done, 
Drawn, 



Participle. 

(Second Form.) 

Builded. 
Burned. 
Burst. 
Bought. 

^Catched, 
Chid. 



Cloven, Cleft. 

Cleaved. 

— Climbed. 



Clothed. 



Crowed. 
Crept. 

Dared. 
Dealed. 
Delved. 
Digged. 



Dreamed, Dreamt, Dreamed. 
^Drave, Driven, 



Drunk, Drunken, Drunk. 

Dwelled, Dwelt, Dwelled. 

^Eat, Eaten, Eat. 

Engraved, Engraven, Engraved. 

Fallen, 

_ Fed, •- 

Felt, 

^Foughten, Fought. 

Found, Found, 

Fled, 



298 



ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 



Present. 

Fling, 

Fly, 

Fold, 

Forget, 

Forsake, 

Freeze, 

Freight, 

Get, be-^ for-, 

Gild, 



Preterite. 

(First Form.) 

^Flang, 
Flew, 

=^Forgat, 
Forsook, 
Froze, 



Preterite. Participle. 

(Second Form.) (First Form.) 



Participle. 

(Second Forai ) 



Got, 
Gilt, 

Gird, ^e-, en.^ un..^ Girt, 
Glide, =^Glode, 

Give,/(9r-, mz's-. Gave, 
Go,/ore-, under-^'WQnt^ 



Grave, 

Grind, 

Grow, 

Have, 

Hang, 

Hear, over-^ 

Heave, 

Help, 

Hew, 

Hide, 

Hit, 

Hold, be-^ up-, 

with', 
Hurt, 
Keep, 
Kneel, 
Knit, 
Know, fore-, 

Lade (to load), 

Lay, m-, Laid, 

Lead, mis-y Led, 

Leave, Left, 

Lend, Lent, 

Let, Let, 

Lie (to recline). Lay, 



^Grove, 

^Grand, 

Grew, 

Had, 

Hung, 

Heard, 

#Hove, 

^Holp, 

Hid, 
Hit, 

\ Held, 

Hurt, 

Kept, 

Knelt, 

Knit, 

Knew, 



Flung, 

Folded, 
Forgot, 



Freighted, 

#Gat, 

Gilded, 

Girded, 

Glided, 



Graved, 
Ground, 



Hanged, 

Heaved, 
Helped, 
Hewed, 



Kneeled, 
Knitted, 

Laded, 



Flung, 

Flown, 

^Folden, 

Forgotten, 

Forsaken, 

Frozen, 

Fraught, 

Gotten, 

Gilt, 

Girt, 



Given, 

Gone, 

Graven, 

Ground, 

Grown, 

Had, 

Hung, 

Heard, 

=^Hoven, 

^Holpen, 

Hewn, 

Hidden, 

Hit, 



Folded. 
Forgot. 



Freighted. 

Got. 

Gilded. 

Girded. 

Glided. 



Graved. 



Hanged 

Heaved. 
Helped. 
Hewed. 
Hid. 



Kneeled. 
Knitted. 



Holden, Held. 

Hurt, 

Kept, 

Knelt, 

Knit, 

Known, 

Laden," 

Laid, 

Led, 

Left, 

Lent, 

Let, 

Lain, 



^Lien. 



IRREGULAR VERBS. 



299 



Present. 

Lift, \ 

Light, 

Load, un-f over-, 

Lose, 

Make, 

Mean, 

Meet, 

Melt, 

Mow, 

Pay, re-, 

Pen (to inclose). 

Put, 

Quit, 

Read, 

Rend, 

Rid, 

Ride, 

Ring, 

Rise, «-, 

Rive, 

Run, out', 

Saw, 

Say, w^-, gain-, 

See, fore-, 

Seek, 

Seethe, 

Sell, 

Send, 

Set, be-, 

Shake, 

Shape, 

Shave, 

Shear, 

Shed, 

Shew, 

Shine, 

Shoe, 



Preterite. 

(First Form.) 

Lift, 



Lit, 



Preterite. 

(Second Form.) 

Lifted, 

Lighted, 

Loaded, 



Participle. 

(First Form.) 

Lift, 

Lit, 

^Loaden, 

Lost, 

Made, 

Meant, 

Met, 

^Molten, 

Mown, 

Paid, 

Pent, 

Put, 

Quit, 

Read, 

Rent, 

Rid, 



Rode, ^Rid, Ridden, 



Lost, 

TVTadp 




Meant, 


^Meaned, 


Mpt 




^Molt, 


Melted, 




Mowed, 


Paid 




Pent, 


Penned, 


Pnt 




Quit, 


Quitted, 


Read, 


^Redde, 


"Rpnf 




Rid, 





Rang, 
Rose, 

Ran, 

Said, 

Saw, 

Sought, 

Sod, 

Sold, 

Sent, 

Set, 

Shook, 

^Shope, 

ashore. 
Shed, 

Shone, 
Shod, 



Rung, 

^Ris, 

Rived, 

Run, 

Sawed, 



Seethed, 



Shaped, 
Shaved, 
Sheared, 

Shewed, 
Shined, 



Rung, 

Risen, 

Riven, 

Run, 

Sawn, 

Said, 

Seen, 

Sought, 

Sodden, 

Sold, 

Sent, 

Set, 

Shaken, 

Shapen, 

Shaven, 

Shorn, 

Shed, 

Shewn, 

Shone, 

Shod, 



Participle. 

(Second Form.) 

Lifted. 

Lighted. 

Loaded. 



^Meaned 

Melted. 
Mowed. 

Penned. 

Quitted. 



Rode. 
=^Rid. 



Sawed. 



Seethed. 



Shaked. 
Shaped. 
Shaved. 
Sheared 



Shined. 



300 



ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 



Present. 

Shoot, over-, 

Show, 

Shred, 

Shrink, 

Shut, 

Sing, 

Sink, 

Sit, 

Slay, 

Sleep, 

Slide, 

Sling, 

Slink, 

Slit, 

Smite, 

Sow, 

Speak, be-, 

Speed, 

Spell, mis-f 

Spend, mis-f 

Spill, mis-j 

Spin, 

Spit, 

Split, 

Spread, 

Spring, 

Stand, 

under-, 

with; 
Steal, 
Stick, 
Sting, 
Stink, 
Strew, 
Stride, be-, 



Strike, 
String, 



Preterite. 

(First Form.) 

Shot, 

Shred, 

^Shrank, 

Shut, 

Sang, 

Sank, 

Sate, 

Slew, 

Slept, 

=^Slode, 

^Slang, 

^Slank, 

Slit, 

Smote, 

^Spake, 

Sped, 

Spelt, 

Spent, 

Spilt, 

^Span, 

^Spat, 

Split, 

Spread, 

Sprang, 

Stood, 

Stole, 
Stuck, 
#Stang, 
=^Stank, 

Strode, 
^Strake, 
^Strook, 
^Strang, 



Preterite. 

(Second Form.) 

Showed, 

Shrunk, 

Sung, 
Sunk, 
Sat, 



Slid, 

Slung, 

Slunk, 

Slitted, 

=^Smit, 

Sowed, 

Spoke, 

Spelled, 

Spilled, 
Spun, 
Spit, 
Splitted, 

Sprung, 



#Stale, 

Stung, 
Stunk, 
Strewed, 
^Strid, 

Struck, 

Strung, 



Participle. 

(First Form.) 

Shot, 

Shown, 

Shred, 

Shrunken, 

Shut, 

^Sungen, 

Sunken, 

=^Sitten, 

Slain, 

Slept, 

Slidden, 

Slung, 

Slunk, 

Slit, 

Smitten, 

Sown, 

Spoken, 

Sped, 

Spelt, 

Spent, 

Spilt, 

Spun, 

^Spitten, 

Split, 

Spread, 

Sprung, 

Stood, 

Stolen, 

Stuck, 

Stung, 

Stunk, 

Strown, 

Stridden, 

Stricken, 

Strung, 



Participle. 

(Second Form.) 



Shrunk. 

Sung. 
Sunk. 
Sat. 



Slid. 



Slitted. 
^Smit. 
Sowed. 
Spoke. 

SpeUed. 

Spilled. 

Spit. 
Splitted. 



Strewn. 
=^Strid. 

Struck 



IRREGULAR VERBS. 



801 



Present. 



Preterite. 

(First Form.) 

Strove, 



Strive, 

Strow, — 

Swear, for-., Swore, 



Sweat, ^Swet, 

Swell, ^Swoll, 

Swim, Swam, 

Swing, ^Swang, 

^Swink, ^Swank, 

. Take, be-, ^ 

mis-, over-, >Took, 

re-, under-,) 

Teach, mz5-, }^ , , 

' ' > Taught, 

un-, ) . 

Tear, Tore, 

Tell, fore-, Told, 

Think, be-. Thought, 

Thrive, Throve, 

Throw, over-. Threw, 

Thrust, Thrust, 

Tread, re-, Trod, 

Wax, 

Wear, 

Weave, un-, 

Weep, 



Preterite. Participle. Participle. 

(Second Form.) (First Form.) (Second Form.) 

Striven, 

Strowed, Strown, Strewed. 

^Sware, Sworn, 

{ Sweat, ? c. , ^ Sweat, 

i *Sweated,r^'^*'"' j Sweated. 

Swelled, Swollen, Swelled. 

Swum, Swum. 

Swung, 

Swunk, Swinken, Swunk. 



^Tare, 



Thrived, 



^Trad, 

Waxed, 

^Ware, 



Swang, 
Swinken, 

Taken, 

Taught, . 

Torn, 

Told, 

^Thoughten, Thought. 
Thriven, Thrived. 

Thrown, 

Thrust, — 

Trodden, 

Waxen, 

Worn, 

Woven, 

Wept, 



Trod. 
Waxed. 



Wend, 
Wet,' 
Win, 
Whet, 

Wind, un-. 

Work, 
Wreathe, 
Wring, 
Write, 



Wore, 

Wove, 

Wept, 

Went, 

Wet, 

#Wan, 

Whet, 
k ^Wand, 
\ Wound, 

Wrought, Worked, Wrought, Worked. 

Wreathed, Wreathen, Wreathed. 

Wrung, Wringed, Wrung, Wringed. 

Wrote, ^Writ, Written, ^Writ. 



Wetted, 

Won, 

Whetted, 



Wet, 
Won, 
Whet, 



^Wi 



Winded, Wound, 



Wended. 
Wetted. 

Whetted. 
Winded. 



302 



ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 



CHAPTER XX. 



DERIVED VERBS. 

§ 307. Four classes of Derived Verbs, as opposed to Prim- 
itive, deserve notice. 

I. Those ending in -en ; as, soften^ whiten, strengthen. 
The -en is a derivational affix, and not a representative of the 
Anglo-Saxon Infinitive form -an (as, lufian = to love) ; or the 
Old English -en (as, tellen, loven). 

II. Transitive Verbs, derived from Intransitives by a change 
of the Vowel of the root. 



Primitive Intransitive Form. 


Derived Transitive Form. 


Rise, 


Raise. 


Lie, 


Lay. 


Sit, 


Set. 


Fall, 


Fell. 


Drink, 


Drench. 


In Anglo-Saxon these words were more numerous than 


hey are at present in Eng 


lish. 


Intrans. Infinitive. 


Trans. Infinitive. 


Yrnan, to run. 


^rnan, to make to run. 


Byrnan, to burn. 


Bsernan, to make to burn. 


Drincan, to drink. 


Drencan, to drench. 


Sincan, to sink. 


Sencan, to make to sink. 


Licgan, to lie. 


Lecgan, to lay. 


Sittan, to sit. 


Settan, to set. 


Drifan, to drift. 


Drefan, to drive. 


Feallan, to fall. 


Fyllan, to fell. 


Weallan, to boil. 


Wyllan, to make to boil. 


Fleogan, to fly. 


A-fligan, to put to flight. 


Beogan, to bow. 


Bigan, to bendj. 


Faran, to go. 


Feran, to convey. 


Wacan, to wake. 


Weccan, to awaken. 



All these Intransitives form their Preterites by a change of 



REFLECTIVE VERBS. 303 

Vowel; ^Q, sink, sank; all the Transitives by the addition 
of c? or t ; as, fell^ felVd. 

III. Verbs derived from Nouns by a change of Accent ; as, 
to survey^ from a sur^vey. Walker attributes the change 
of Accent to the influence of the participial termination 4ng. 

IV. Verbs formed from Nouns by changing a final Surd 
Consonant into its corresponding Sonant ; as, use, to use, 
pronounced uze ; breath, to breathe, pronounced breadhe ; 
half, to halve ; grass, to graze. 



CHAPTER XXL 

REFLECTIVE VERBS. 

§ 308. Reflective Verbs are those which are followed by 
Reflective Pronouns. In English such verbs are less strong- 
ly marked than in some other languages, as, for example, 
in German and French ; yet they exhibit several peculiari- 
ties worthy of notice. Their true nature and character will 
be best seen by reducing to distinct classes all the verbs which 
might be called by this name. 

I. Those formed from transitive verbs, remaining transi- 
tive, in which the agent truly and properly acts upon himself ; 
as, to examine oneh self, 1 Cor. 11 : 28. to honor one's self, 
John 8 : 54. to purify one's self 1 John 3 : 3. ^o kill one's 
self ; to praise one^s self; etc. 

These verbs are reflective both in sense and in form. They 
have the emphasis or stress on the reflective pronoun. They 
are proper middle verbs, or verbs intermediate between the 
active and passive voices. If this had been the only class of 
reflective verbs, they would have needed but little notice in 
our grammars. 

II. Those formed from transitive verbs, remaining transi- 
tive in form but not in sense, in which the agent does not truly 
and properly act upon himself; as, to boast one^s self Ps. 
52 : 1. 2 Cor. 11 : 16. to delight one's self Ps. 37 : 4, 11. 



304 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

to exercise oneH self^ Acts 24 : 16. to forswear one^s self, 
Mat. 5: 33. to fret one's self Ps. 37: 1, 7, 8. to repent 
one's self Ps. 135 : 14. to possess one's self etc. 

So far as the sense is concerned, these verbs are neuter ot 
intransitive. It is merely a mode of forming intransitive 
verbs out of transitive. The reflective pronoun is without 
emphasis. In many verbs of this class, especially in German 
and French, the indirect or remote object seems to act on the 
agent or subject ; as, Germ, sick erinnern, to recollect ; sich 
freuen, to rejoice ; Fr. se repentir, to repent ; se plaindre, 
to lament ; Eng. to repent one's self ; to fret one's self 

III. Verbs like those of the first and second classes, which 
are no longer used in their ordinary transitive meaning ; as, 
to behave one's self 1 Cor. 13 : 5. 1 Tim. 3 : 15. (comp. 
Old Eng. behave, to restrain ;) to bestir one's self 2 Sam. 

5 : 24:. (comp. Old Eng. bestir, to move ;) to betake one's 
self. Is. 14 : 32 marginal reading, (comp. Old Eng. betake, 
to deliver ;) to bethink one's self 1 Kings 8 : 47. 2 Chron. 

6 : 37. (comp. Anglo- Sax. bethencan, to consider ;) to wal- 
low one's self Jer. 6 : 26. (comp. Old Eng. wallow, to roll;) 
to vaunt one's self. Judges 7 : 2. 1 Cor. 13 : 4. (comp. Fr. 
vanter, to praise.) 

These constitute the reflective verbs in English, technically 
so called by grammarians, as they are now used only with 
the reflective pronoun. The reflective pronoun is of course 
without emphasis. 

Note. Many verbs of the second and third classes now 
omit, especially in colloquial language, the reflective pronoun ; 
as, to behave, see Webster ; to bethink, see Webster ; to 
boast, see 2 Cor. 7 : 14. Eph. 2: ^. to delight, see Mie. 7 : 
18. Mai. 2 : 17. Rom. 7 : 22. to fret, see Prov. 19 : 3. to 
repent, see Num. 23: 19. Mat. 3:2. to wallow, see Jer. 
48: 26. Mark 9: 20. to vaunt, see Webster. So to con- 
duct is sometimes improperly used for to conduct one's self. 
In this way verbs now intransitive sometimes have the ap- 
pearance of being used reflectively. This, however, is not 
the case. 

IV. Many verbs are construed with a reflective pronoun of 
the indirect or remote object; as, to imagine to one's self 



IMPERSONAL VERBS. 305 

These are a distinct class from all the rest, and require no 
special notice. 

V. Many reflective verbs are construed with a second 
accusative of the factitive relation ; as, to think one's self 
ivorthy^ i. e. to think that one's self is worthy, Luke 7 : 7. 
to feign one^s self a Just man, Luke 20 : 20. 

So to drink oneh self drunk, 1 Kings 20 : 16. to laugh 
one^s self hoarse ; to lualk one^s self tired. This is a com- 
mon Teutonic idiom ; comp. Germ, schlafen sich dumm, liter. 
to sleep one'^s self stupid. 

VI. Sometimes the reflective pronoun has the form of the 
simple pronoun, as in French ; as, to flee one away, Am. 7 : 
12 (comp. Fr. s^enfuir;) to get one, Num. 22: 34. Mat. 4: 
10. (comp. Fr. s^en alter ;) to sit one down. Gen. 21 : 16. 
(comp. Fr. s^asseoir.^ 

These are mere Gallicisms, and a^ such have been repro- 
bated by grammarians. 



CHAPTER XXIL 

IMPERSONAL VERBS. 

§ 309. The different classes of verbs in English, which 
have sometimes been called Laipersonal, are as follows : 

I. Where, as in describing the operations of nature and 
the state of the v/eather, no logical subject is conceived of or 
expressed, but the mere event is affirmed without any refer- 
ence to the agency by which it is effected ; as, it thunders ; 
it rains ; it is warm. The pronoun it is here merely the 
grammatical subject. These are proper impersonal verbs. 

II. "Where a logical subject must be conceived of; but 
either is not expressed, or is expressed grammatically in an 
oblique case ; as, it strikes four ; it repented the Lord be- 
cause of their groanings ; let it not be grievous in thy sight 
concerning the lad; it is over with them. These also are 
proper impersonal verbs. 

III. Where the logical subject is not a substantive, bur 

U 



306 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

merely a clause 6r part of a sentence ; as, it came to pass 
that God did tempt Abraham. These propositions have a 
subject, but it is not a person. These are improper imper- 
sonal verbs. 

IV. Where the logical subject is indefinite, or refers to no 
particular person ; as, they say, that is, it is said, or some- 
body says. These have no claim to be regarded as imper- 
sonal verbs. 

Note. There are some impersonal verbs in English which 
are used, or have been used, in certain situations, without the 
pronoun it. It may be important to notice this peculiarity, 
as our common grammars are silent on the subject. 

(1.) Me seemeth or meseems, past meseemed, it seems to 
me, Lat. mihi videtur ; as, 

" Me seemeth good, that with some little trains 
Forthwith from Ludlow the young prince be fetched 
Hither to London, to be crown'd our king." — Shakspeaee. 

The verb to seem is intransitive ; consequently the pro- 
noun me has here the power of a dative case, as it has in 
Anglo-Saxon. 

(2.) Me thinketh or methinks, hym thinketh, past me- 
thought, it seems to me ; as, 

" With suche gladnes I daunce and skip, 
Me thinketh I touche not the floore." — Gower. 

" Some such resemblances methinks I find 
Of our last evening's talk, in this thy dream, 
But with addition strange ; yet be not sad." — Milton. 

" So that hym thinketh of a daie 
A thousande yere till he maie se 
The visage of Penelope, 
Whiche he desireth moste of all." — Gower. 

" One came, methought, and whispered in my ear." — Pope. 

The verb to think, to seem, Goth, thugkjan, Old Sax 
thunkian, Anglo-Sax. thincan, Old Germ, dunkjan. Germ. 
dunken, is to be carefully distinguished from to think, to 
imagine, Goth, thagkjan, Old Sax. thenkian, Anglo-Sax. 
thencan, Old Germ, denkjan. Germ, denken. 

The verb to think here is intransitive ; consequently the 
pronouns me and hym have the power of the dative case. 



DEFECTIVE VERBS. 307 

Compare Anglo-Sax. metJiinceth or me thmcth^ him thincth^ 
past me gethuhte^ where the pronoun is in the dative case ; 
Old Eng. me4huncketh ; Germ, micli or mir dunket ; Swed. 
metyckas ; Dan. metykkes. 

(3.) Me listeth or me lists ; past, me listed^ him list, it 
pleases me ; as, 

" To whatsoever land 
By sliding seas me listed them to lede." — Surrey: Virgile. 

" To the holy land him list.'^ — R. Brunne. 

The verb to list is a transitive verb ; consequently the pro- 
noun me or him is in the accusative. Compare Anglo-Sax. 
me lyste, it pleases me, hine lyste, it pleases him, where the 
pronouns me and hine are in the accusative. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

DEFECTIVE VERBS. 

§ 310. A Defective Verb is one which wants some of 
the Principal Parts, as in the following list : 

Presen'. Preterite. Past Participle. 



Can, 


Could, 


May, 


Might, 


Must, 


Must, 


Ought, 


Ought, 


Shall, 


Should, 


Will, 


Would, 


Quoth, 


Quoth, 


Wis, 


Wist, 


Wit or wot. 


Wot, 


Beware, 





Could is irregular, for the / is not a part of the original 
word. Anglo-Saxon, Pres., Ic can; Pret., Ic cu^e ; Past 
Part., Cu^. The I is accounted for by a process of imita- 
tion. In would and should I has a proper place. It is a 
part of the original words, will and shall, A false analogy 



3 08 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

looked upon could in the same light. As the I is not pro- 
nounced, it is an Irregularity, not of language, but of Or- 
thography. 

May, Shall, Will. See § 284. 

Must is never varied in termination. 

Ought is varied in the Second Person Singular ; Thou 
oughtest. 

Beware is used only in the Imperative and the Infinitive 
Mode. 

Quoth is used chiefly in the First and Third Persons Sin- 
gular of the Present and Preterite Tenses. It has the pecul- 
iarity of preceding its pronoun. Instead of saying I quoth ^ 
he quoth, we say quoth I, quoth he. In the Anglo-Saxon it 
was not defective. It was found in the other Tenses. Pres., 
Ic cwe^e, pii cwyst, he cwy^ ; Pret., Cwce^. In the Scan- 
dinavian it is current in all its forms. There, however, it 
means not to speak, but to sing'. It belonged to the strong 
conjugation, and formed its preterite by a change of vowel. 

Wis is obsolete ; Wist is not much used. 

Wit, Anglo-Saxon Wit an, to know, is confined to the 
phrase in the Infinitive, to wit = namely, Latin videlicet. 

Hark is used only in the Imperative Mode. 

Am, Be, Was are strictly Defective verbs, though usually 
classed as Irregular ; just as good, better', best, furnish in- 
stances of defectiveness in comparison, though commonly con- 
sidered as furnishing an instance of irregular comparison. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

ADVERBS. 

§ 311. An Adverb is a word which can not by itself form 
a constituent part of a simple proposition, but which can, in 
a complex proposition, combine with verbs, adjectives, and 
other Adverbs, to modify their meaning ; as, *' He reads cor- 
rectly ;^^ ^'hewsis exceedingly QSiYeful',^^ ^^ he does tolerably 
well." See § 405. 



ADVERBS. 



309 



Its name indicates its Character. It was added to the 
verb (Latin adverbium) to modify its signification ; hence the 
Greek writers defined it thus : 'Entpprjiid eon [lepog Xoyov clkXi- 
70V, snl TO prjfxa rfjv ava<popav exov. " The Adverb is an in- 
declinable part of speech, having relation to the verb." 

§ 312. The Adverb belongs to the class of indeclinable 
words called Particles. To this class also belong Preposi- 
tions, Conjunctions, Interjections, and Inseparable Prefixes. 
But Adverbs susceptible of comparison are not properly Par- 
ticles. Though Particles now appear only as helps to the 
principal words, the Verb, the Adjective, the Substantive, and 
the Pronoun, they were themselves originally Nouns or Verbs, 
Pronouns or Adjectives. Though acting a subordinate part 
in sentences, they still have a meaning. In their humble 
position among other words they often seem to express an 
idea or an assertion within the idea or the assertion expressed 
by those principal words. The same particle is in different 
connections an adverb, a conjunction, or a preposition. 

ORIGIN OF ADVERBS. 

§ 813. " Omnis pars orationis migrat in Adverbium." 
" Every part of speech is capable of becoming an Adverb." 
Thus the words much and very^ scarce and stark^ originally 
Adjectives, become adverbs. The words adrift and atwist 
are adverbs derived from the Participles of the verbs drifaUy 
twisan. The words here, there, hence, whence are adverbs 
derived from Pronouns. The words once, twice, thrice are ad- 
verbs derived from Numerals. The words yet, ado, together 
are adverbs which seem to be derived from the Verbs get, 
do, and gather. The words while, to-morrow, yesterday, 
originally Substantives, are used as adverbs. 

Adverbs such as these just mentioned may be called Ad- 
verbs of Deflection, while adverbs such as Now, which have 
not been satisfactorily shown to have originated in any other 
part of speech, may be called Absolute Adverbs. 

§ 314. Adverbs ending in " ly." — Ly, Anglo-Saxon lie, 
was once an independent word, the Anglo-Saxon lie =^ like. 
Words of this termination were in Anglo-Saxon compound ad- 
jectives. So in Old English we have the Adjective eorthliche, 



310 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

earthly ; ferliche^ strange. In modern English there are words 
such as godly ^ lonely^ lovely. Godly is equivalent to God-like. 
According to the present habit of the English language, an 
adjective is converted into an adverb by annexing ly ; as, 
bright^ brightly. This class of adverbs may be called ad- 
verbs of Deflection, and laxly adverbs of derivation. 

§ 315. Adverbs with the Prefix *'\4." — 1. In some in- 
stances a stands in the place of the prepositions in or on; as, 
alive, anciently written on lyve, i. e., in life, or in a living 
state. Aloud was anciently written on loud; as, ^* On loud 
he speired what art thou ?" 2. It was formerly expressed by 
the preposition of ; as, aneiv, anciently written of neiv, as we 
now say of late. 3. It is the article a ; as, awhile, i. e., a 
time. 4. It is part of the pronominal adjective all ; as, 
alone, anciently written all one, i. e., absolutely one. 5. It 
is corrupted from the participial prefix ge or ye ; as, adrift. 
The prefix a belongs to many sea terms ; as, aboard, ashore, 
&c., and to many other ancient and modern words ; afire ^= 
in fire, on fire ; ablaze = on blaze ; asleep = in sleep. 

§ 316. Adverbial Pronouns. — Here, hence, hither are in 
their origin related to the pronoun he. There, thence, and 
thither are in their origin related to the or that ; as are 
Where, tvhence, whither to who or ivhat. Then, ivhen are 
also related to that and what. Wliy is related to who, as 
also is how. Than and thus are severally related to that and 
this. The words Here, there, where, united with other 
words, form a variety of compound adverbs ; as. Herein^ 
hereafter, thereof, whereupon. 

The following distinction should be noticed concerning in- 
terrogatives. If you ask who, ivhich, ivhat, how many, you 
inquire concerning some Noun; but if you ^^ where, whence, 
tohither, when, how often, you inquire concerning some Verb. 
Hence the propriety of calling the class which relate to nouns 
pronouns, and the class that relates to verbs adverbs. 

adverbs from concrete substantives. 

§ 317. Adverbs formed from Concrete Substantives must 
be carefully distinguished from the ordinary cases or uses of 
such substantives. 



ADVERBS. . ' 3;[2^ 

Homey ' to the house,' an ancient accusative, to be distin- 
guished from the ordinary accusative in 'he loves his own 
home.'' 

AlwaySy ' at all times,' the accusative of time ; compare 
the ordinary accusative in ' he tries all ways of doing mis- 
chief.' 

So7netimes, 'at some times,' the accusative of time; com- 
pare the ordinary accusative in ' he remembered some times 
of great distress.' 

Aivhilej ' a while,' the accusative of time ; compare the or- 
dinary accusative in ' he spent a long while.'' 

Needs y ' from necessity,' an ancient adverbial genitive from 
need. 

NowaySy ' in no manner,' an ancient adverbial genitive 
from no way. 

Nightly y 'by night,' 'every night,' with adverbial suffix ly. 

Beside^ 'by side,' z. e., moreover ; compare 'he sat by the 
side.'' 

Between^ ' by twain,' i. e., in the intermediate space ; com- 
pare ' by twain he did fly.' 

Away, ' on way,' i. e., at a distance ; compare ' he stopped 
on the way.^ 

ADVERBS FROM CASES. 

§ 818. Seldom is the old Dative of the Adjective Seld. 

Whilom is the Dative of the Substantive WJiile. 

Else, unawares, eftsoons, by rights, are Genitive forms 
of Adjectives. 

Needs (as in needs must go^ is the Genitive case of a 
Substantive. 

Once, twice, thrice are the Genitive forms of Numerals. 

Little, less, well are Neuter Accusatives of Adjectives. 

Athwart is a Neuter Accusative. 

The Neuter Accusative is a common source of Adverbs in 
all tongues. 

ADVERBS HAVING THE SAME FORM AS ADJECTIVES. 

§ 319. In Anglo-Saxon, (which for our present purpose 
may be regarded as ancient English, or the language of our 



312 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

ancestors,) the adverb was usually formed from the adjective 
by the addition of e; as, georn ^nd geornlic, earnest; georne 
and geornlice, earnestly ; sweotol, manifest ; sweotole and 
sweotolice, manifestly ; siuidh and swidhlic, great ; swidhe 
and swidhlice, greatly. 

It is exactly by dropping this adverbial termination e, espe- 
cially where the connection in meaning of the adverb and of 
the adjective is not immediately obvious, that in English 
many adverbs are found agreeing in form with the adjectives 
from which they are derived ; as, 

1. Anglo-Sax. clcen^ adj. and clcene^ adv. Whence Eng. 
clean, adj. and adv. The use of the adverb clean, signifying 
* entirely,' is found Josh. 3 : 17. Ps. 77 : 8. etc. Its con- 
nection with the adjective clean, signifying ' pure,' is not 
obvious at first view. This use of the adverb clean is now 
deemed inelegant. The form cleanly is used for the adverb 
in the more obvious senses. 

2. Anglo-Sax. clcenlic, adj. and clcenlice, adv. Whence 
Eng. cleanly, adj. and adv. The form cleanUly is objection- 
able on euphonic grounds, and is never used. 

3. Anglo-Sax. /6g5^ andfcBstlic, adj. and fceste andfcestlice, 
adv. Germ, fest, adv. Whence Eng. fast, adj. and adv. 
The form fastly is not used at all. 

4. Anglo-Sax. heag and healic, adj. and lieage and healice, 
adv. Whence Eng. high, adj. and adv. The form high as 
an adverb is now nearly superseded by the form highly. 

5. Anglo-Sax. heard and heardlic, adj. and hearde and 
heardMce, adv. Whence Eng. hard, adj. and adv. The 
forms hard and hardly are both used as adverbs, bat with 
discrimination. 

6. Anglo-Sax. hlud, adj. and hlydde, adv. Whence Eng. 
loud, adj. and adv. The form loud as an adverb is found 
Neh. 12 : 42, but both forms loud and loudly are now used. 

7. Anglo-Sax. lang or long, adj. and lange or longe and 
longlice, adv. Whence Eng. long, adj. and adv. The form 
longly is not used at all. 

8. Anglo-Sax. Icet or lat, adj. and IcBte or late and i(£tlice, 
adv. Whence Eng. late, adj. and adv. The form lately is 
also used in the sense of recently. 



ADVERBS. 



313 



9. Anglo-Sax. riht and rihtlic, adj. and rihte and rihtelice, 
adv. Whence Eng. right, adj. and adv. The forms right 
and rightly are both used as adverbs, but with discrimina- 
tion. 

10. Anglo- Sax. sar and sarlic, adj. and sare and sarlice, 
adv. Whence Eng. sore, adj. and adv. The forms sore and 
sorely are now both used as adverbs. 

11. Anglo-Sax. seft or soft and seftlic, adj. and 5e//e or 
softe, adv. Whence Eng. soft, adj. and adv. The form soft 
as an adverb is found in poetry, which often employs anti- 
quated forms ; as, " And soft unto himself he sayed." — - 
Chaucer. " Soft sighed the flute." — Thomson. But this 
form in prose is entirely superseded by softly. 

12. Anglo- Sax. thic, adj. and thicce and thiclice, adv. 
Whence Eng. thick, adj. and adv. The forms thick and 
thickly are now both used as adverbs. 

13. Anglo- Sax. wid, adj. and wide, adv. Whence Eng. 
wide, adj. and adv. The forms ivide and widely are now 
both used as adverbs. 

14. Anglo-Sax. yfel and yfellic, adj. and yfele, adv. 
Whence Eng. evil or ill, adj. and adv. The form evilly or 
illy, which was used in one stage of the English language, is 
now obsolete. 

In the following example, the adverbial termination seems 
to be retained in pronunciation, both in the adjective and in 
the adverb : 

15. Anglo-Sax. hrcEd and hrcBdlic, adj. hrcedhe and hrced- 
lice, adv. Whence Eng. ready, adj. and adv. The forms 
reoAy and readily are both used as adverbs, but with dis- 
crimination. 

That this mode of forming adverbs has extended itself to 
a few adjectives of French or Latin origin, is not surprising ; 
as, Eng. clear, adj. and adv. (comp. Fr. clair, Lat. clarus 
and dare) ', just, adj. and adv. (comp. Yi. juste, LiSit. Justus 
and juste). 

These comparisons, if rightly made, lead to the following 
conclusions, which throw light on some points still mooted by 
writers on English grammar : 

1. In examples like the following, certain forms, which 



314 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

some have claimed to be adjectives, are really adverbs, for 
they once had the termination peculiar to this class of words : 

*' To stick fast in mire;" comp. Anglo-Sax. sticode fceste, 
stuck fast, with the adverbial termination. 

" Correct thy heart, and all will go right f^ comp. Anglo- 
Sax, rihte^ with the adverbial termination. 

" Favors came thick upon him ;" comp. Anglo-Sax. feol- 
Ion thicce^ fell thick, with the adverbial termination. 

" Open thine hand vjide ;" comp, Anglo-Sax. wide, with 
the adverbial termination. 

2. This use of certain adjectives without change of form, 
as adverbs, has descended to us fairly from our ancestors, and 
is not to be reprobated as an innovation in language. 

3. The apparent poetic use of adjectives for adverbs is to 
be explained on the principle that the poets delight in antique 
forms. This use is often found in poetry, where it is obso- 
lete in prose ; as, 

" Drink deep or taste not the Pierian spring." — Pope. 

" Soft sighed the flute." — Thomson. 

" Slow tolls the village clock." — Beattie. 

" Full many a gem of purest ray serene." — Gray. 

ADVERBIAL PHRASES. 

§ 320. The principal office of the Adverb is to modify the 
meaning of adjectives and verbs, and its secondary office is to 
modify adverbs. The same offices are performed by certain 
phrases or combinations of words ; as, '' He struck at rati' 
domP Here at random modifies the verb struck ; " This 
happened many days afterward." Here many days modifies 
the adverb afterward, and afterivard modifies the verb 
" happened." These adverbial phrases, inasmuch as they 
perform the office of single words, might be thrown into the 
form of single words, as has been done in such words as here^ 
tofore, howsoever. 

COMPARISON- OF ADVERBS. 

§ 321. Certain Adverbs are capable of taking an Inflec- 
tion, namely, that of the comparative and the superlative de- 
grees ; as, Welly better, best ; ill, worse, worst ; little, lesSs 



ADVERBS. 215 

least ; much, more, most ; soon, sooner, soonest ; often, oft- 
ener, oftenest ; long, longer, longest. 

Adverbs ending in ly are compared by more SLudmost; as, 
Brightly, more brightly, most brightly. 

Other Adverbs generally, in the meaning they express, 
have no degrees of intensity, and are therefore incapable of 
comparison. 

CLASSIFICATION OF ADVERBS. 

§ 322. Adverbs are usually divided into various Classes, 
according to the nature of the modification vt^hich they de- 
note ; as, Adverbs of Time, of Place, Number, Degree, Man- 
ner. This division is Logical rather than Etymological. 

I. Adverbs of Time, or those which answer to the question 
When ? or How often ? 

1. Of time present : Now, yet, to-day, presently, instantly. 

2. Of time past : Yesterday, already, lately, heretofore, 
hitherto, since, ago, erewhile, erst. 

8. Of time to come : Henceforth, hereafter, by-and-by, 
soon, erelong. 

4. Of time relative : When, then, tuhile, whilst, before., 
after, till, until, betimes, early, late. 

5. Of time absolute : Ever, always, aye, never, 

6. Of time repeated: Often, oft, sometimes, seldom^ rarely. 

II. Adverbs of Place are those which answer to the ques- 
tions Wliere ? Whither ? or Whence 7 These three words 
answer to the idea, 1. Of rest in a place ; 2. The idea of 
motion toward a place ; 3. The idea of motion from a place. 
The manner in which different languages express these ideas 
may be seen in the following table : 

Moeso-Gothic par, jja}?, fafro, There, thither, thence. 

Her, hi|), hidro, Here, hither, hence. 

Old High-German . . . Hudr, huara, huanana, Where, whither, whence. 

Dar, dara, danana, There, thither, thence. 

Hear, hera, hinana, Here, hither, hence. 

< )ld Saxon . . . ^ .... Huar, huar, huanan, Where, whither, whence. 

Thar, thar, thanan, There, thither, thence. 

H6r, her, henan, Here, hither, hence. 

Anglo-Saxon Hvar, hvider, hvonan, Where, whither, whence. 

par, jjider, Jjonan, There, thither, thence. 

Her, hider, henan, Here, hither, hence. 



316 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

Old Norse Hvar, hvert, hva-San, Where, whither, whence. 

Har, Jja-Sra, fa^an, There, thither, thence. 

Her, he^ra, he§an, Here, hither, hence. 

Modern High-German . Wo, wohin, wannen, Where, whither, whence. 

Da, dar, dannen, There, thither, thence. 

Hier, her, hinnen. Here, hither, hence. 

Other Adverbs of Place are, Yonder, above, beloiv, about, 
around, somewhere, any where, elsewhere, every where, no- 
where, wherever, within, without, whereabout, hereabout, 
thereabout ; In, up, down, back, forth, inward, upward, 
downward, backward, forward ; Away, out. 

III. Adverbs of Number are those v^hich answer to the 
question How often 7 as, Once, twice, thrice, etc. Besides 
these there are. First, secondly, thirdly, fourthly, etc. 

IV. Adverbs of Degree are those vi^hich answer to the 
question How much ? as. Much, little, too, very, right, in- 
finitely, scarcely, hardly, merely, far, besides, chiefly, only, 
mostly, quite, dear, stark, partly, almost, altogether, all, 
clear, enough, so, as, even, how, however, hoivsoever, ever- 
so, something, nothing, any thing, etc. 

V. Adverbs of Manner are those which answer to the 
question How ? (a) Adverbs of Quality ; as. Well, ill, fain, 
lief, wisely, foolishly. [j3) Of Affirmation ; as, Ay, yes, yea, 
truly, verily, indeed, surely, certainly, doubtless, certes, for- 
sooth, amen, (y) Of Negation ; as, Nay^i^iOT, no, see § 403, 
noivise. (6) Of Doubt ; as. Perhaps, possibly, perchance, 
yer adventure. The following may also be considered as Ad- 
verbs of Manner, though some of them may be included in 
another class, namely, Thus, how, somehoiu, hoivever, hoiv- 
soever,- like, else, so, otherwise, across, together, apart, asun- 
der, namely, aloud. 

NO and nay, yes and yea. 

§ 323. " Ne," says Wachter, '' particula negandi vetus- 
tissima, a Soythis in Persia, Grsecia, et Septemtrione, prosem- 
inata ; qu8B Persis effertur Neh ; Graecis vfi et ve, in com- 
positis ; sicut Latinis Ne et Ni ; Gothis Ni, Neh, Ne ; An- 
glo-Saxonibus Na, Ne ; Francis et Alamannis Ni ; Anglis 
No ; Suecis Ney ; Sorab Ne in compositis." He also ob- 
serves of the n, that in many compounds it is an abbrevia- 



ADVERBS. 



317 



tion of ne, ni^ etc., and as such has a negative power in dif- 
ferent languages ; as, Nichts, niemand, in German ; Never ^ 
none, in English; Nolo, nullus, in Latin. Nay and No, 
though they have some differences in use, are probably the 
same word in origin. 

Yea is the Gothic Ya, yai, which, with very little change, 
pervades most of the northern dialects, being in Welsh ie ; 
Armoric, Dutch, German, and Swedish ja (where the j is 
pronounced as y) ; and the Anglo-Saxon ia, gee, gea. Yea 
is somewhat different from yes in use, being considered as 
adapted to formal discourse. Ay is yea differently pro- 
nounced. 

PRIMITIVE ADVERBS OF PLACE. 

§ 324. The following Adverbs of Place are worthy of at- 
tention, both on account of their decided character as primi- 
tive or radical words, and on account of the peculiar analo- 
gous formations which are made from them : 

I. In. 

1. In, the most simple form, employed without a comple- 
ment as an adverb ; and, with a complement, as a preposition. 

2. Within, the emphatic form, compounded of the particles 
with and in, employed both as an adverb and as a preposition. 

3. Inner, the comparative form, but employed as an adjec- 
tive of the positive degree ; also m^zermere (obsolete), with 
double sign of the comparative. 

4. Innermost, the full superlative form ; also inmost, the 
shorter superlative form ; both employed as adjectives. 

5. Inward, toward the interior, employed as an adjective ; 
and inwards, with the form of the genitive, employed as an 
adverb. 

II. Out. 

1. Out, the most simple form, employed as an adverb ; 
also out, more commonly out of, used as a preposition. 

2. Without, the emphatic form, compounded of the par- 
ticles with and out, employed both as an adverb and as a 
preposition. 



318 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

3. Uttei' and outer ^ two comparative forms, employed as 
adjectives of the positive degree, but in different accepta- 
tions ; fitter in a more metaphorical, and outer in a more 
physical sense. 

4. Uttermost and outermost, full superlative forms of the 
adjective in different acceptations ; also outmost and utmost^ 
shorter superlative forms ; also outest^ obsolete. 

5. Outward^ employed as an adjective ; and outwards^ em- 
ployed as an adverb. 

III. Up, 

1. Up, the most simple form, employed as an adverb and 
as a preposition. 

2. Above, ^Anglo-Sax. abufan,) the emphatic form, com- 
pounded of the particles a, be by, and ufan up, employed 
both as an adverb and as a preposition. 

3. Over and upper, two comparative forms ; the former 
employed as an adverb or preposition, and the latter as an ad- 
jective of the comparative degree. 

4. Overmost and uppermost, full superlative forms ; also 
upmost, shorter superlative form, obsolete ; also upperest, 
obsolete ; all used as adjectives. 

5. Upward, adjective, and upwards, adverb. 

IV. Neath. 

1. Neath, (comp. Anglo-Sax. neothan,) obsolete, and its 
place supplied by down. 

2. Beneath and below, compound emphatic forms, em- 
ployed both as adverbs and as prepositions. 

3. Nether and lower, adjectives of the comparative de- 
gree ; also nethermore, obsolete, with double sign of the 
comparative. 

4. Nethermost and lowermost, full superlative forms ; also 
lowmost, obsolete, and lowest, shorter superlative forms ; also 
nether est, obsolete ; all used as adjectives. 

5. Downward, adj., and downwards, adv. 

V. Fore. 
1. Fore Midi for, the most simple forms; fore employed as 
an adverb, and for as a preposition. 



PREPOSITIONS. 3]^9 

2. Before, the compound emphatic form, employed both 
as an adverb and as a preposition. 

3. Former, the comparative form, employed as an adjective. 

4. Foremost and first, superlative forms. 

5. Forward, adj., forwards, adv. 

VI. Hind. 

1. The place of the adverb is supplied by back or behind ; 
that of the preposition by behind. 

2. Behind, the emphatic form, employed both as an adverb 
and as a preposition. 

3. Hinder, the comparative form, employed as an adjective. 

4. Hindermost, the full superlative form, obsolete ; also 
hindmost, the shorter superlative form ; also hinderest, obso- 
lete. 

5. Backward, adj., and backwards, adv. 

VII. Mid. 

1. The place of the adverb and preposition is supplied by 
amidst. 

2. Amidst, the compound and emphatic form, employed 
both as an adjective and as an adverb. 

3. Wanting. 

4. Middlemost, the superlative form. 

5. Midward, obsolete. 

The other primitive Adverbs of Place are by, of and off, 
on, to and too, with. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

PREPOSITIONS. 

§ 325. A Preposition is a word which can not by itself 
form the constituent part of a simple proposition, but which 
can enter into a complex proposition, in combination with a 
Noun or Pronoun, to express some relation; as, ^' Socrates, 
the son of Sophroniscus, was born at Alopece." Of, in this 
case, not only connects the word son with the word SophrO' 



320 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

niscus, but it also shows the relation between them. At con- 
nects Alopece with the verb was born, and shows the relation 
between them. See § 406. 

1. The Preposition, Latin prcepositio, was so called be- 
cause it was placed before the substantive to which it refers. 
Prcepositio est pars orationis invariabilis, qucB prceponitur 
aliis dictionibus. The name is faulty, inasmuch as it is 
founded on merely its position in the sentence, and not on its 
nature and office. The Preposition was not uniformly placed 
before the noun to which it related. Tenus always comes 
after the noun which it governs, and cum occupies the same 
position in the expressions mecum, tecum, nobiscum, vobis- 
cum. In English it always precedes the noun. 

2. It was by some of the Greek grammarians classed with 
Conjunctions, under the common term 'Evvdeafiog, or the Con- 
nective, inasmuch as the preposition connects words and the 
conjunction sentences. From its ordinary position, some of 
the Stoics called it Iivvdeoiiog JIpoOsTtKog. 

3. In showing the relations of words to each other, the 
preposition performs the same office in modern languages 
which case-endings did in the ancient languages. The rela- 
tions which they express are various, such as relations of 
locality/, of time, of causality. The original relation ex- 
pressed by prepositions appears to have been that of Locality. 

§ 326. 1. The following have been called simple preposi- 
tions : At, after (the comparative of aft), by, down, under ^ 
far, from, in, of, on, over, past, round, since, through, till^ 
to, up, ivith. 

2. The following are formed by prefixing a: Aboard, above, 
about, across, against, along, amid, amidst, among, amongst, 
around, athwart. 

3. The following are formed by prefixing be (by) to cer- 
tain nouns and adjectives : Before, behind, below, beneath, 
beside, besides, between, betwixt, beyond. 

4. Certain compound prepositions are formed by uniting 
two prepositions, or a preposition and an adverb : Into, out of 
throughout, toward, towards, upon, until, unto, underneath, 
ivithin, without. 

5. The following words, originally participles, are classed 



PREPOSITIONS. 321 

with prepositions : Bating^ concerning^ during^ excepting, 
notivith standings regarding, respecting, touching. They 
can, however, still be treated as participles. 

6. Save and except can be treated as verbs in the Impera- 
tive Mode. Nigh, near, next, opposite can be viewed as 
Prepositions in construction, or as Adjectives, the preposition 
to being sometimes understood. Along may be considered 
as a preposition in certain combinations ; as, '' He went 
along the river." But, when equivalent to except, has the 
force of a preposition. 

There are also certain prepositional phrases ; as. Accord- 
ing to, in respect of; as, On account of the love = propter 
amorem. 

ORIGIN OF CERTAIN PREPOSITIONS. 

§ 827, Athwart is from ^^ and thwart, an adjective or a 
verb. Moved ''contrary with thwart obliquities." — Milton. 
^' Swift as a shooting star in autumn thivarts the night." — 
Idem. The meaning of the word, here used as an adjective or 
verb, is seen in the preposition ; as, " Moving athwart the sky." 

Across, in formation and meaning, is analogical with 
athwart. 

Against, from Anglo-Saxon gean, ongeon. It comes from 
the verb gan, to go. 

Among, from Anglo-Saxon onmang, verb gemengan, to 
mingle. 

About, Anglo-Saxon abutan. It seems to be related to 
the French word bout, the butt or limit of a thing. 

Between = By twain, by twice. Sir Philip Sidney uses 
betweene as an adjective : ''His authoritie having been abused 
by those great lords, who, in those betweene times of reigning, 
had brought in the worst kind of oligarchic." In the Old 
English we find the adverb atwayne : " With his axe he 
smote it atwayne^ 

Beyond seems to be of the same origin as the preposition 
against, being from the verb gan, to go. It is equivalent to 
" that place being passed." 

Beneath = by the nether, that is, lower part. 

By, Anglo-Saxon be or big, Gothic bi, Swedish be, Dan- 

X 



32 2 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

ish hy. The word, in composition, is often written he ; as, 
Because^ besiege. 

Before, Behind, are of the same nature, in this respect, 
that fore and hind are to the nouns, in composition, with be. 
They are still used in an adjectival sense in foreman, hind 
wheel, &c. Afore and tofore were formerly used instead of 
before, and they are still used in the expressions aforesaid, 
heretofore. 

For and fore appear to have been originally the same 
word. Our common words " where/ore" and " there/ore" 
are equivalent to ^^ for which" and ''/or this;" and the lat- 
ter is often written forthy in ancient authors, as the former 
is written for why by some of modern date : 

'* Audi forthy , if it happe in any wise 
That here be any cover in this place." 

Chaucer's Troilus. 

«' Solyman had three hundred field-pieces, that a camel 
might well carry one of them, being taken from the carriage ; 
for why, Solyman, purposing to draw the emperor into bat- 
tle, had brought no greater pieces of battery with him." — 
Knolle's Hist. Turk. 

Forsaid was used as foresaid, Forlok for forelook. . For 
still has a meaning kindred to fore or before. 

For is also used as a conjunction : as, '' That ye may be 
the children of your Father who is in heaven ; for he maketh 
his sun to rise on the evil and on the good." In such sen- 
tences for has the sense of because. It may be said, in gen- 
eral, that for indicates the cause or motive of any action or 
circumstance. 

In, Latin in, Greek ev, Gothic in, Anglo-Saxon in, French 
en, Spanish en, Italian in, German ein, Danish ind, San- 
scrit antu. This relates to place and time, and can be coup- 
led, in the way of opposition, to out. This last word is in 
Anglo-Saxon ut. Various compounds are formed from these; 
as. Within, without, or inwith, outwith, as written by some 
ancient writers. The words withouten and forouten were 
also' formerly used. 



PREPOSITIONS. 323 

THE NATURE AND OFFICE OF PREPOSITIONS. 

§ 328. 1. Prepositions, although a secondary and less im- 
portant part of speech, deserve more attention than is usually 
paid to them in our common grammars. They exhibit in a 
striking manner the analogy of the external or sensible world 
with the internal or intellectual. 

2. The preposition, (from Ija.tm prcepositio, " a placing be- 
fore,") is a word placed before a noun. This is merely an 
external definition, and does not indicate its internal nature. 

8. Prepositions express neither essences, (like substantives,) 
nor activities, (like verbs and adjectives,) but only their rela- 
tions. They express not the substance, but the form of our 
ideas. Hence they are ranked by Becker with form- words. 

4. Prepositions are indeclinable, as the relations of things 
are external to the things themselves, and are not affected by 
the changes which take place in them. 

5. Prepositions express relations between verbs whose 
original nature consists in activity or motion, or some other 
parts of speech involving the verbal idea, and a noun express- 
ing an essence. Of course, with very few exceptions, they 
denote local relations, or other relations conceived of as local 
relations by the mind. 

6. The relations expressed by prepositions are either ex- 
ternal or internal to the human mind. The external rela- 
tions are of a physical nature, and obvious to the senses. 
The internal relations belong to the province of the intellect. 
As these higher relations are subject to the same analysis as 
the sensible relations, and the mind supposes a close resem- 
blance between the physical and intellectual worlds, so prep- 
ositions denoting the external relations are also employed to^ 
express the internal. 

7. Physical relations are for the most part local. Activity 
is motion. Relations of activity are directions of motion. 
These local relations arrange themselves in antitheses, form- 
ing a beautiful system ; as, I?i and out, the only absolute 
relation of space ; Latin cis and trans ; before and behind ; 
above and below, relative relations of space ; to and from, 
relations of direction ; into and out of a compound relation, 



324 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

etc. This system is too little regarded in our common gram- 
mars. 

8. Intellectual relations are conceived of as physical, and 
are expressed by prepositions denoting physical relations. 
They are exhibited to others, as they strike our own minds 
This is shown, 

(1) In cases where the primary or physical meaning of 
the verb is lost ; as. To copy from a picture ; to rule over a 
country. 

(2) In cases where the physical meaning is not lost ; as, 
To rely on another's promise ; to tend to a given result ; to 
insult over any one. 

(3) In cases where the force of the preposition had been 
already expressed in the verb ; as. To consult with a person; 
to abstain from a thing ; to concur with another ; antipathy 
against another. 

9. Prepositions thus exhibit a wonderful correlation be- 
tween the intellectual and physical worlds ; a correlation 
which shows that both worlds proceeded from the same Author. 

10. Prepositions exhibit the wonderful economy of lan- 
guage. The number of relations is almost infinite ; yet they 
are all expressed by a comparatively small number of prep- 
ositions, and this without any confusion or danger of mis- 
take. We are guided in the meaning by the nature of the 
ideas between which the relation exists ; but if one local rela- 
tion were used for another, confusion would immediately 
arise. 

11. As the object of prepositions is the same with that of 
cases in nouns, hence, in those languages where there are no 
cases, there must be more prepositions ; and vice versa in 
those languages which have numerous cases, fewer preposi- 
tions are necessary. 

12. Whether the expression of relations by cases or by 
prepositions in the Indo-European languages is the more an- 
cient, it is difficult to decide. With respect to the external 
and lower relations, it is natural to believe that prepositions 
were used from the first for their expression ; but with re- 
spect to the internal spiritual relations the matter is not so 
olear. It would seem as if the language-makers had begun 



CONJUNCTIONS. 



325 



by expressing the internal relations by inflection, and the ex- 
ternal by prepositions, and that the contest between these two 
principles has been the occasion of the endless variety of ex- 
isting languages. 



CHAPTER XXVL 

CONJUNCTIONS. 

§ 329. A Conjunction is a word which can connect two 
propositions without making a part of either ; as, " The sun 
shines and the sky is clear." ''You admire him because he 
is brave." See § 407. 

The word Conjunction is derived from the Latin con^ with^ 
^xA junctus^ joined ^= joined together. The distinguishing 
characteristic of the Conjunction is, that it shows the rela- 
tion of sentences or propositions ; thus, '' He sang and 
danced"="He sang and he danced." In each side of this 
equation there are really two propositions ; the only differ- 
ence between them is, that in one of them there is an ellipsis 
of the word /ie. A preposition connects words ; a conjunc- 
tion connects propositions. The same word is sometimes a 
Conjunction, and at other times a Preposition or an Adverb. 
See § 312. A current definition is, "A conjunction is a 
word used to connect words and sentences together." 

§330. Harris's classification of conjunctions. 

V CI. Copulative, 

1. Connective,^ U. Suppositive, 

12. Continuative,< p^.-^-^^ (Causal. 

' ( Collective. 

o v.- • ■ ^1- Simple, 

2. Disjunctive,-^ ^ Adversative \ ^' ^^^^1^*® ^^ Comparative. 

' ( 2. Adequate or Inadequate. 

§ 331. 1. According to the above scheme. Conjunctions are 
divided into two Classes, according as they connect the mean- 



326 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

ings of sentences or not, as well as the sentences themselves. 
The first are called Connectives, because they connect the 
meanings of sentences. The second class are called Dis- 
junctives, because they do not connect the meanings of sen- 
tences : '' Ccesar was ambitious, and Rome ivas enslaved f* 
** Ccesar was ambitious, or Rome was enslaved.''^ It is evi- 
dent that the words and and or alike join the two sentences; 
but it is equally evident that they join them very differently. 
In the one case it is signified by the conjunction and that the 
propositions stand on the same basis, and are both meant to 
be asserted with the same degree of confidence ; in the other, 
it is signified by the conjunction or that the ground on whi?h 
the one assertion is made excludes the other. Both and and 
or are Conjunctions — both mark that a relation exists be- 
tween the two sentences— but the particular relations which 
they mark are different. In the one case there is accumula- 
tion, in the other separation. 

2. The Connectives are subdivided into Copulatives and 
Continuatives. According to this scheme copulatives only 
couple sentences. Continuatives, on the other hand, consoli- 
date sentences into one continuous whole. Thus, we might 
say with ipro^riety, ^' Franklimvas a philosopher, a-nd Henry 
was an orator ^ But it would be absurd to say, ^^ Franklin 
vjas a philosopher because Henry ivas an orator P And is 
a copulative ; because a continuative. 

3. The Continuatives are subdivided into Suppositive and 
Positive. The suppositives are such as if; the positives 
such as because. The former imply necessary connection, 
\)\xi do not assert existence ; the latter imply both the one 
and the other. 

4. The Positives are either Causal or Collective. The 
causals are such as because, &o., which subjoin causes to 
effects ; as. The sun is in eclipse because the moon inter- 
venes. The collectives are such as subjoin effects to causes ; 
as, The moon intervenes, therefore the moon is in eclipse. 

5. In like manner, the Disjunctives are divided into 
two classes, the Simple and Adversative. A simple dis- 
junctive conjunction disjoins and opposes indefinitely ; as, 
Fjither it is day or it is night. An x4.dversative disjoins 



CONJUNCTIONS. 327 

with a positive and definite opposition, asserting the one al- 
ternative and denying the other ; as, It is not day^ but it is 
night. 

6. The Adversatives admit of two distinctions : first, as 
they are either Absolute or Comparative ; and, secondly, as 
they are either Adequate or Inadequate. The Absolute Ad- 
versative is where there is a simple opposition of the same 
attribute to different subjects, or of different attributes in the 
same subjects, or of different attributes in different subjects; 
as, 1. Achilles was brave, but Ther sites was not ; 2. Gorgias 
was a sophist, but not a philosopher ; 3. Plato was a philoso- 
pher, BUT Hippias was a sophist. 

The Comparative Adversative marks the equality or ex- 
cess of the same attribute in different subjects ; as, Burke 
was more studious than Sheridan ; Byron was as great a 
poet as Canning was an orator. These relate to substances 
and their qualities ; but the other sort of adversatives relate 
to events,' and their causes or consequences. Harris applies 
to these latter the terms Adequate and Inadequate. Thus, 
Troy ivill be taken unless the Palladium be preserved. Here 
the^word unless implies that the preservation of the Palladium 
will be an adequate preventive of the capture of Troy. On 
the other hand, when we ^d,y,, Troy will be taken although 
Hector defend it, we intimate that Hector's defending it, 
though employed to prevent the capture, will be an inade- 
quate preventive. 

The above classification has been brought forward, not so 
much for the purpose of commending its accuracy as for ex- 
hibiting the fact that conjunctions show the different rela- 
tions of sentences. 

ORIGIN OF CONJUNCTIONS. 

§ 332. Conjunctions are generally derived from some other 
part of speech ; frequently from Verbs in the Imperative 
Mode. Those whose origin can not be traced are called Ab- 
solute conjunctions, in distinction from others which are call- 
ed conjunctions of Deflection. Home Tooke, indeed, asserts 
that they all are traceable to some other part of speech. 
He says, " There is not such a thing as a Conjunction in 



32 8 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

any language which may not, by a skillful Herald, be traced 
home to its own family and origin." 

And, a principal copulative, has the force of add. ^ I rode 
AND Peter walked = I rode add Peter walked. Its origin is 
not well known. 

Eke is another copulative, Anglo-Saxon eac, also, and ea- 
can, to add to. It seems to be related to the Latin ac. 

In Danish, the conjunction is og-, and the verb ager. In 
Swedish the conjunction is och, and the verb oka. In Dutch 
the conjunction is ook, and the verb auchan. In Moeso- 
Gothic the conjunction is auk, and the verb aukan. In En- 
glish the conjunction is eke, from Anglo-Saxon eac<2?«. But,, 
on the 'other hand, the Latin ac differs from augeo ; and 
the Greek av wants the characteristic ^ of av^Eiv ; and the Ice- 
landic og differs from the verb auka. 

Also, Anglo-Saxon eal, all, and swa, so, is a Copulative 
with a still more specific meaning, inasmuch as it implies 
something of similitude with what went before. 

If, a Suppositive or Conditional conjunction, is in significa- 
tion equivalent to grant, being an imperative form from the 
Anglo-Saxon gifan, to give. It was anciently sometimes 
spelled gif and yif. 

An is also a Conditional conjunction, from annan, to grant; 
'^ An you had any eye behind you, you might see more 
detraction at your heels than fortune before you."— Shak- 
speare. 

As, a Cansal conjunction, (comp. German ah,) is a con- 
traction of also. This will account for its being sometimes 
used as a pronoun. So is a relative to the antecedent as, or 
as is an antecedent to the relative that, which is also a pro- 
noun, used as a conjunction. 

Because, a Causal conjunction, was originally a combina- 
tion of words, by and cause. Some of the older writers say 
by cause that. 

Since, also a Causal, is from Anglo-Saxon sith or sithen=- 
since. 

Therefore, a Collective or Illative conjmiction, is a com- 
pound word, pronominal in one of its elements, and equiva- 
lent to the Latin (^uam ob rem. It has two applications : 



CONJUNCTIONS. 



329 



£rst, when we state effect as a matter of fact ; and, second- 
ly, when we state it as a matter of reasoning ; as, 1. " He 
is guilty, therefore he blushes." 2. '' He blushes, therefore 
he is guilty." In the first we state a fact, in the second a 
conclusion. 

It is a circumstance which often occasions error and per- 
plexity, that both these classes of conjunctions (the causal 
and the illative) denote not only cause and effect, but prem- 
iss and conclusion ; e. g-.. If I say this ground is rich be- 
cause the trees on it are flourishing, or the trees are flour- 
ishing, and therefore the soil must be rich, I employ these 
conjunctions to ^QiaoiQ premiss and conclusion; for it is plain 
that the luxuriance of the trees is not the cause of the soil's 
fertility, but only the cause oi my knowing it. If, again, I 
say the trees flourish because the ground is rich, or the ground 
is rich, and therefore the trees flourish, I am using the very 
same conjunctions to denote the connection of cause and ef- 
fect ; for, in this case, the luxuriance of the trees being evi- 
dent to the eye would hardly need to be proved.^ but might 
need to be accounted for. 

Wherefore is analogous to therefore in origin and force. 

Then, an Illative Conjunction, is of pronominal origin. 
See § 316. It is also used as an Adverb. 

Either, neither, or, nor, are Simple Disjunctives. They 
might be called alternatives, either and or being taken affirm- 
atively, and neither and nor negatively. Either is in origin 
a pronoun. See § 250. Or is a contraction of other, which 
is also a pronoun. Neither and nor are simply either or or 
with a negative particle prefixed. Or is frequently followed 
by else^ as nor is by yet. 

Else, a Simple Conjunction, related to Anglo-Saxon elles, 
and the Latin alius. 

Than, pronominal in its origin, is reckoned by Harris 
among adversatives of Comparison. 

Unless, from Anglo-Saxon onlesan, to loose, called by 
Harris an Adversative Adequate, with reference to the pre- 
vention of an event, is called by Crombie an exceptive. 

Except appears to have the force of unless in sentences 
like the folio wino^ : '' This realme is like to lacke bothe stuff 



380 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

of artillery and of artificers of the same, except a provision 
of due remedy in this behalf be the more spedily founde." 

Though has already been mentioned as, according to the 

scheme of Harris, an inadequate adversative : it is sometimes 

called a concessive. It is the Anglo-Saxon peak. It is an 

antecedent to the relative conjunctions yet and still, ex. gr. : 

" Though Birnam Wood be come to Dunsinane, 

Yet will I try the last." — Shakspeare. 

" Though I do condemn report myself 
As a mere sound, I still will be so tender 
Of what concerns you in all points of honor, 
That the immaculate whiteness of your form 
Shall never be sullied." — Massinger. 

Conjunctions show the relation of sentences one to an- 
other. Two sentences are connected either by way of sub- 
ordination or by way of co-ordination. They are connected 
in the way of subordination when one of them can be con- 
sidered as standing in the place of a substantive, adjective, 
or adverb; as, '' He reported that the king died^^ (=death of 
the king) ; " the foreigner who travels'^'' (= traveling foreign- 
er) ; " he was at work before the sun rose'''' (= early). Con- 
junctions, when used to connect subordinate sentences, may 
be called Subordinative Conjunctions. 

Two sentences are, on the other hand, connected in the 
way of co-ordination when they are not thus dependent one 
upon another; as, ''He is ill, and he has called a physician;" 
*' He goes to France, btit he can not speak French." Con- 
junctions which express a connection of this description may 
be called Co-ordinative Conjunctions. See § 577. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

INTERJECTIONS. 



§ 338. 1. An Interjection (L. interjectio, a throwing in be- 
tween) is so called from its being throivn in between the parts 
of discourse, although it has not a definite logical import, nor 



INTERJECTIONS. 



331 



an exact grammatical construction, like the other parts of 
speech. See § 133. This name is preferable to that of ex- 
clamation^ for some exclamations are not interjections, and 
some interjections are not exclamations, 

2. Under interjections are included, 

(1.) Natural exclamations, expressing passion or emotion, 

(2.) Natural exclamations, expressing a state of the will, 
whether addressed to our fellow-men, or employed to allure or 
drive away domestic animals. 

(3.) Some imitations of natural sounds, whether of animals 
or of inanimate objects. 

(4.) Some imitations of visible appearances. 

3. Of the interjections some are primitive or original, oth- 
ers are derived from other parts of speech. The primitive 
interjections are a sort of universal language, yet not without 
some variety in different tongues. The derived interjections 
vary, of course, in different languages. ^ - 

4. Primitive interjections, with which we are principally 
concerned, are all formed by onomatopoeia. 

(1.) Some of them result from the position into which the 
vocal and articulating organs have a tendency to be thrown 
by the muscular action of the face and other parts in those 
movements which constitute the natural gestures or signs 
of emotions. This tendency is more or less indefinite. 
Hence, in the first place, the resulting word for the same 
emotion may be different in different languages, according to 
the habits of articulation which accompany the several lan- 
guages ; and, in the second place, the same interjection, like 
words in Chinese, may subserve different purposes, according 
to the intonation. 

Thus pain, accompanied with languor or grief, relaxes all 
the muscles, and the mouth being consequently open, with the 
other organs in their usual state, the sound ah is produced 
with a monotonous and feeble intonation, and degenerating 
into a mere groan. Sharp and sudden pain, on the contrary, 
throws the muscles into a state of tension round the lips, and 
produces o/i, with the breath drawn in, and the semitonic in- 
tonation described by Dr. Rush. 

Surprise raises the brows and opens the mouth suddenly; 



332 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

hence Ah^ with an abrupt and upward tone, expresses that 
emotion. 

Wonder or astonishment lounds the lips ; hence results the 
interjection Oh! with a dov/nward intonation. 

Contempt is accompanied with a protrusion of the lips ; 
hence it is expressed by pish, pshaw. 

(2.) Other primitive interjections result from the imitation 
of objective or outward sounds. 

For instance, shoo, shoo, which is used in driving a way- 
poultry, was probably suggested by the rustling of their 
wings when they run away suddenly ; sheep and lambs are 
called by the cry of knan, knan, in imitation of the sound 
which they make in running to be fed ; dogs are called to 
persons by sucking the breath through the lips, in imitation 
of the cry of puppies. To the onomatopoeia may also be re- 
ferred such interjections as hush, ht, whist, used to enjoin 
stillness and silence, as they all consist merely in atonic or 
whispering sounds. 

5. Derived interjections are either (1.) terms descriptive 
of the emotion, with appropriate intonations ; as. Horrid ! 
shocking! joy ! (2.) names, common and proper, used in ad- 
dressing animals ; (3.) verbs in the imperative mode ; as, 
Hark ! see ! behold ! help ! halt ! or nouns used as impera- 
tives, by means of the intonation ; as, Silence ! peace ! cour- 
age! or adverbs, used in like manner for tho imperative; as, 
Softly ! away ! or (4.) abbreviated forms, used particularly 
by the vulgar ; as, Gramercy, (French grand merci, great 
thanks) ; I marry (for ay Mary) ; 's death (for by his death). 

6. Interjections have not, in our common grammars, as- 
sumed the importance nor obtained the scientific treatment 
which they deserve. 

For if we regard language as originating in and related to 
our intellectual faculties only, then interjections, as well as 
some other classes of words which express our feelings and 
desires directly, lose their claim to be considered parts of 
speech. But if we consider language in its broadest sense, 
as arising from our whole spiritual nature — from our feelings 
and desires as well as from our reason— as we ought in pro- 
priety to do, interjections have a just claim to be considered 



INTERJECTIONS. 



333 



an integral part of language ; and, as they arise from our 
sentient nature, which is first formed and precedes the devel- 
opment of reason, they deserve in a historical critical view of 
language an early consideration. 

The fact that interjections express the multiplied emotions 
of the human mind, and lend their aid where all other lan- 
guage fails in this respect ; that they are the only medium 
of intercourse between man and the brute creation, or of ani- 
mals with each other ; and that they are a natural universal 
language, is sufficient to exhibit their importance in a philo- 
sophic view. There can be no doubt that interjections rightly 
used contribute much to render language an exact picture of 
the human mind. 

7. Some interjections are the same in languages very re- 
mote from each other, as the following examples will show : 

Greek w, Latin O, Gothic o, English O, Syriao o, to call 
attention. 

Greek (psv, Latin ph^f/, English ^e, French fi, Arabic uffu, 
to express aversion. 

Gr^eek ovat, Latin vai, Gothic vai, English woe, Hebrew 
01, hoi, Arabic iva, to express grief. 

Latin Ah, English Ah, Hebrew ach, Arabic ah, to express 
grief. 

English interjections are divided into, 

I. Natural exclamations, expressing passion or emotion, 
including, 

1. Passive emotions, in which the human mind is over- 
powered : (1.) wonder or amazement ; as. Oh, pronounced 
with a downward inflection ; (2.) pain, grief, or lamentation; 
SiS, Ah, Oh, woe, alas; (3.) loathing or aversion; as, Fie, pish, 
pshaw, tysh, ugh (guttural). 

2. Emotions under which the mind is still active : (1.) sur- 
prise or admiration; as, Heigh, hoity-toity ; (2.) joy or ex- 
ultation ; as. Huzza, hurra, joy ; (3.) desire; as, O; (4.) 
laughter; as. Ha ha; or tittering; as. Hi hi; (5.) threat- 
ening ; as, Woe. 

II. Natural exclamations, expressing a state of the will, 
addressed to our fellow-men, or else employed to allure or 
drive away domestic animals. 



33 4 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

1. Addressed to our fellow-men; (1.) calling attention gen- 
erally ; as, O, hoj halloo ; (2.) enjoining silence ; as. Hush, 
^st, ivhist ; (3.) calling attention to a particular object; as, 
Lo, behold, see. 

2. Addressed to cows ; as, Coh, coh. 

3. Addressed to goats and sheep ; as, Knan, knan. 

4. Addressed to dogs ; a whistle made by sucking the 
breath through the teeth. 

5. Addressed to cats ; as, Minny, minny ; also scat. 

6. Addressed to pigs; as, Pig, V^S y also shogh, shogh. 

7. Addressed to draught cattle ; as, Haw, jee, hivo. 

III. Imitations of natural sounds, whether of animals or 
of inanimate objects. 

1. Of animals : (1.) of cows ; as, Moo ; (2.) of dogs ; :as. 
Bow luoiv ; (3.) of chickens ; as. Peep, peep ; (4.) of geese ; 
as, Quack. 

2. Of inanimate objects ; as, of a bell. Ding dong ; of a 
clock or watch. Tick, tick ; of a drum, Roia de dow dow ; of 
a knocking at the door,i^<2^ a tat tat ; of a trumpet, Tantara, 
tantara ; of removing a trumpet from the mouth. Bat, &c. 

IV. Imitations of visible appearances ; as. Flash, zigzag. 

Other parts of speech are sometimes formed from interjec- 
tions ; as. To puff at, from puff ; to ache, from Ah ; the 
noun woe, from interjection woe. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

DERIVATION. 

§ 334. Derivation has been defined as the drawing or 
tracing of a word from its root or original. Like Etymology, 
the word is used in a wide and in a limited sense. In the 
wide sense of the term every word, except it be in the sim- 
ple form of a root, is a derived word. In this sense the 
Cases, Numbers, and Genders of Nouns, the Persons, Modes, 
and Tenses of Verbs, the Ordinal numbers, the Degrees of 
comparison are regarded as matters of Derivation. But Der- 



DERIVATION. 



335 



ivation Proper comprises all those changes that loords un- 
dergo which are not referable to some of the preceding 
heads. Inflection, a part of Derivation in its wider sense, is 
separated from Derivation properly so called, or from Deriva- 
tion in its limited sense. 

THE CONSTITUENT ELEMENTS OF THE ENGLISH 
LANGUAGE. 

The English tongue, as it now exists, is not a pure, sim- 
ple language, but it is made up of many languages. 

The constituent parts or elements of the English language 
are, 1. The Anglo-Saxon basis, inherited from our ancestors; 
2. Extensive admixtures from three dead languages, viz., the 
Latin, the Greek, and; the Hebrew ; 3. Exotic or foreign 
terms from various living languages ; and 4. Words not re- 
ducible to either of the three preceding heads. See § 24. 

I. The Anglo-Saxon portion of the language is its basis or 
ground-work. Although the vocabulary of such words is 
comparatively small, yet it embraces all the pronouns and 
pronominal words ; all the numerals, cardinal and ordinal, ex- 
cept second ; all the primary particles ; all the terminations 
necessary for the inflection of substantives, the comparison 
of adjectives, and the conjugation of verbs, as well as most 
of the verbs, adjectives, and substantives in common use. 
Hence whole paragraphs may easily be written with this part 
of the language only, while without it hardly a sentence can 
be formed. See § 335. 

The Anglo-Saxon language belongs to the Gothic or Teu- 
tonic family of languages, of which the German, Dutch, Dan- 
ish, and Swedish are also branches. With the Anglo-Saxon 
there was without doubt an intermixture of the Celtic, but it 
is not easy now to make the separation. 

n. Admixtures from three dead languages, viz., the Latin, 
the Greek, and the Hebrew. 

1. The admixture of words from the ancient Latin is ow- 
ing to the conquest of England by the Normans, who spoke 
Norman-French, to the subsequent close intercourse with the 
French people, and to the influence of the learned class, who 
studied and wrote Latin. What is owing to each of these 



336 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

influences severally it is difficult now to determine, nor is it 
necessary. A few Latin words had already passed into the 
Anglo-Saxon, which we have inherited. 

This portion of our language is very considerable, whether 
we regard the number or the length of the words. As the 
English language is now learned, these words are imperfectly 
appreciated by those who have not studied Latin. 

To the Latin family of languages belong the existing lan- 
guages, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and French. 

2. The admixture of words from the ancient Greek is ow- 
ing for the most part to a conventional usage among the learn- 
ed of Europe, speaking different languages, of forming scien- 
tific and technical terms from the ancient Greek. A few 
Greek words had also passed into the Latin, or into the Teu- 
tonic directly, which have come down to us. 

This portion of our language is also considerable. To the com*- 
mon English mind these words are now so many proper names. 
New facilities are wanting to explain them to the young. 

The ancient Greek, as a spoken language, has now been 
superseded by the modern Greek. 

3. Admixture of words from the ancient Hebrew. 
Although the Hebrew, as a spoken language, has never 

come in direct contact with the English, being far removed 
from it both in time and space, yet, owing to various influ- 
ences of the Hebrew language upon our own, the number of 
words derived by us from the Hebrew is not few. 

The Hebrew belongs to the Shemitish family of languages, 
of which the Chaldaic, Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopic are also 
branches. 

The Hebrew portion of our language includes, 

(1.) Hebrew or Phoenician words, which have come to us 
through the Greek and Latin, and perhaps also through the 
Anglo-Saxon ; as, Ass, bdelliuin, hyssus. 

(2.) Hebrew names of letters, months, measures of capa,c- 
ity, weights and coins, offices, celestial beings, sacred vest- 
ments, festivals, and some miscellaneous terms, which have 
passed to the Occidental nations in connection with religion ; 
as, Aleph, Abib, hornet', shekel, tirshatha, cherub, ephod, Sab' 
bath, amen. 



DERIVATION. 337 

(3.) Hebrew words, which have passed to the Occidental 
nations in connection with religion, and have been modified 
in the Greek ; o.^^ Jubilee^ Pharisee, Essene. 

(4.) Terms which have been adopted from the Rabbinic or 
later Hebrew, on account of the connection of Christian and 
Jewish learning; as, Mishna, Talmud, Metheg ; or the same 
with Occidental terminations ; as, Rabbinism, Talmudist, Ka- 
raite. 

ni. Exotic or foreign terms from various living languages, 
owing to civil, commercial, or literary intercourse, form a 
third constituent part or element of the English language. 

Words, more or less numerous, have been borrowed from 
most of the nations with which we have any intercourse, to 
express objects or things common among them, or in which 
we have been instructed by them. The mefining of such 
words has often afterward been extended. 

These words should be arranged according to the proxim- 
ity of the languages, beginning with the nearer, and passing 
to the more remote. 

The numerous proper names of persons and places among 
the various nations and tribes of men, which are of course 
transferred, not translated, into our language, do not come 
here into consideration. 

1. Words derived from existing Celtic dialects, as Welsh or 
Cymric, Erse or Gaelic. These are to be carefully distin- 
guished from Celtic words supposed to be amalgamated with 
the Anglo-Saxon. 

Bard, a Celtic minstrel ; a poet generally. 
Clan, a Gaelic tribe or race ; a sect or party, in contempt. 
Kilt, a short petticoat worn by the Highlanders of Scotland. 
Pibroch, a Highland air. 

Plaid, cloth worn by the Highlanders of Scotland ; an imi- 
tation of the same. 

Reel, a lively Scotch dance. 

2. Words borrowed from the Gothic or Teutonic dialects, 
kindred to the Anglo-Saxon, as Danish, Dutch, German, 
Swedish : 

Boom, a sea-term for a long pole or spar. Dutch. 
Boor, a farmer, rustic. Dutch. 

Y 



338 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

Bursch, a German University student. 

Guilder, a Dutch coin. 

Grave, (in landgrave, margrave), a German count or earl. 

Schooner, a vessel with two masts. Dutch. 

Sloop, a vessel with one mast. Dutch. 

Stadtholder, a Dutch chief magistrate. 

Stiver, a Dutch coin. 

Waltz, a German dance. 

3. Words borrowed from the modern Latin languages. 

(1.) From the French : 

Belles-lettres, polite literature. 

Bonmot, a jest. 

Bon-vivant, a luxurious liver. 

Bouquet, a bunch of flowers. 

Depot, a place for starting or stopping on a rail-road. 

Eclat, applause. 

These words usually vacillate between the French and a 
more Anglicized pronunciation. 

(2.) From the Spanish : 

Caste, an hereditary order among the Hindoos. 

Cortes, an assembly of the states in Spain. 

Don and Donna, the title of a gentleman and lady in Spain. 

Embargo, a restraint on the sailing of ships. 

Infante and Infanta, a son and daughter of the King of 
Spain, when not the heir or heiress apparent. 

Musquito, a species of gnat. 

Platina, a metal discovered in the mines of Choco, in Peru. 

(3.) From the Italian : 

Dilettante, a lover of the fine arts. 

Doge, the chief magistrate in Venice and Genoa. 

Macaroni, a J)aste formed chiefly of flour, and molded into- 
strings, used for food. 

Sketch, an outline or general delineation of any thing. 

Pianoforte, a keyed musical instrument. 

Piaster, an Italian coin. 

Piazza, a covered walk, supported by pillars. 

Stanza, a strophe. 

Also numerous words in o, the common termination of sub- 
stantives and adjectives in Italian : Adagio, allegro, arpeg- 



DERIVATION. 



339 



gio^ falsetto^ fresco^ gusto, intaglio, sirocco, solo, stiletto^ 
stucco, virtuoso, volcano. 

4. Words borrowed from the Slavonic languages, as Rus- 
sian, Servian, Polish, Bohemian : 

Czar, a title of the Emperor of Russia. 
Hospodar, the Governor of Moldavia or Wallaohia, ap- 
pointed by the Porte. Slavonic. 

Ukase, an edict of the Emperor of Russia. 

Waiwode, a prince, magistrate. Russian and Polish. ' 

5. Words borrowed from the Armenian and Georgian lan- 
guages : 

Vartabed, an Armenian ecclesiastic. 

6. Words borrowed from the modern Persian : 
Bazar, an Oriental market-place. 

Pagoda J an Oriental temple for idols. 
Shah, a title of the King of Persia. 
8ubah, an East Indian province. 
8uboJidar, the viceroy of an East Indian province. 
Zemindar, an East Indian landholder under the Mogul 
empire. 

7. Words borrowed from the modern Sanscrit languages: 
Banian, an East Indian fig-tree. 

Brahmin, a priest of Brahma, the divinity of the Hindoos. 
Gooroo, a priest among the Sikhs of India. 
Pur ana, a species of mythological or legendary work 
among the Hindoos. 

Shaster, a sacred book among the Hindoos. 

Veda, a more ancient and sacred book among the Hindoos. 

8. Words borrowed from the modern Arabic : 

Amber, a hard semi-pellucid substance, which possesses 
electrical properties. 

Azimuth, an astronomical term. 

Camphor, a resin from certain Asiatic trees. 

Gazelle, a species of antelope. 

Giraffe, a camelopard. 

Nabob, a deputy in India, subordinate to the subahdar; 
a man of great wealth. 

Nadir, the point opposite to the zenith. 

Salam, the Oriental salutation. 



340 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

Sunna^ the oral tradition of the Mohammedans. 

Tamarind^ the East Indian date-tree. 

Tariff, a list of duties on goods. 

Zenith, the point directly over head. 

Also many terms commencing with al, the Arabic definite 
article : Albicore, alcanna, alcor, alhenna, alkahest, almu- 
cantar. 

9. Words borrowed from the Mongolian stock of languages: 
Chop, a Chinese mark or stamp. 

Hong, the Chinese name of a foreign factory. 

Khan, a Tartar prince. 

Kings, the five oldest and most sacred books among the 
Chinese. 

Lama, a Thibetan priest. 

Tea, a Chinese plant. - 

Also, Bohea, hyson, oolong, pouchong, souchong, names 
of particular teas. 

10. Words borrowed from the African stock of languages : 
Chimpanzee, gnu, koba, korin, zebra, zerda. 

11. Words borrowed from the American stock of lan- 
guages : Carcajou, cariboo, condor, lama, pecan, raccoon, 
sapajou. 

12. Words borrowed from the Malay and Polynesian lan- 
guages : 

(1.) From the Malay: Bamboo, gong, orang-outang, rat- 
an, sago. 

(2.) From the Polynesian languages : Kahuna, tabu, tattoo. 

IV. Words not reducible to either of the three preceding 
heads form a fourth constituent part or element of the En- 
glish language. These include, 1. Proper English words of 
mixed origin; and, 2. Malformations and hybrid words. 

1. There is a large class of English words, rightly formed, 
whose root or essential part is of Latin or foreign origin, but 
whose inflection or termination is Teutonic. These are pe- 
culiarly English words, as the English language freely inter- 
mingles Latin and Teutonic elements in this way, while other 
languages do not. Here are included, 

(1.) Latin or foreign words with Teutonic inflections, to 
wit : 



DERIVATION. 34jL 

All genitives and plurals of Latin nouns ; as, Muse^s, 
muses; choir^s, choirs; hero^Sy heroes; tribe^s, tribes; facets ^ 
faces. 

All comparatives in er and superlatives in est of Latin ad- 
jectives ; as, Firmer, firmest ; grander, grandest. 

All participles in ing and ed from Latin verbs ; as, Ced- 
ing, ceded. 

All past tenses in ed and inflected persons of Latin verbs ; 
as, Ceded, cedest, cedes, cededst. 

(2.) Latin or foreign words with Teutonic suffixes, to wit : 

Verbs in en from adjectives of Latin origin ; as, Chasten 
from chaste. 

Adjectives in some from substantives and verbs of Latin 
origin ; as, Humorsome^ tendsome. 

Adjectives in ful from substantives of Latin origin ; as, 
Ireful, fateful, artful, useful, merciful, bountiful. 

Adjectives in less from Latin substantives ; as, Causeless^ 
nerveless, artless, useless, motionless, merciless. 

Substantives in er of the active subject from many Latin 
verbs; as. Tender, *' one that tends;" vexer, seducer,' sub' 
scriber, visiter. 

Verbal substantives in ing from many Latin verbs ; as, 
Tending, vexing, visiting. 

Abstract substantives in hood from adjectives and attribu- 
tives of Latin origin ; as. Falsehood, priesthood. 

Abstract substantives in dom from attributives of Latin 
origin ; as, Martyrdom, dukedom, peer dom, popedom, prince- 
dom, Christendom. 

Abstract substantives in ship from attributives of Latin 
origin ; as. Rectorship, survivorship, vicarship, rivalship, 
suretiship. 

Abstract substantives in ness, denoting the quality, from 
Latin stem-adjectives ; as, Chasteness, clearness, crudeness, 
firmness, rudeness ; also, from participial adjectives of Latin 
origin; sls. Aptness, closeness, strictness, politeness, fixedness ; 
also, from derivative adjectives in able, acious, al, aneous, 
ant, ent, ible, ic, ical, id. He, ive, ous, uous, und; as, Dur- 
ableness, voraciousness, fatalness, spontaneousness, valiant- 
ness, presentness, sensibleness, publicness, sphericalness, viv- 



342 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

idness, servileness, passiveness^ pompousness^ superfluousnesSj 
roundness. 

Adverbs in ly formed from the same adjectives as above 
as, Chastely, clearly, crudely, firmly, rudely, aptly, closely 
strictly, politely, fixedly, durably, voraciously, spontaneous 
ly, valiantly, presently, sensibly, publicly, spherically, viv 
idly, servilely, passively, pompously, superfluously, roundly 

(3.) Latin or foreign words with Teutonic prefixes ; as 
Misform, misuse, misdate, misjoin, misjudge, uncertain, un 
chaste, undetermined, unlawful, unceasing. 

2. Malformations and hybrid words. 

It is contrary to the genius of the English language to 
add Latin suffixes to Teutonic words, or to compound a Lat- 
in or Greek with a Teutonic word ; but we have examples 
of both : 

(1.) Teutonic words with Latin suffixes ; as, Eatable, 
drinkable, goddess, shepherdess, murderess, huntress, song- 
stress ; blustrous, burdenous, murderous, wondrous, which 
are approved ; and fishify, happify, mistify, which are dis- 
approved. 

(2.) Hybrid words, Latin or Greek and English ; as, Mob- 
ocracy, popalatry, slavocracy, which are disapproved. 

It is also contrary to the genius of the Latin language to 
add Greek suffixes or prefixes to Latin words, or to com- 
pound a Greek with a Latin word ; but we have examples 
of both : 

(3.) Latin words with Greek suffixes or prefixes ; as, Au- 
thorize, mineralize, realize, antacid, anti-social, which are 
approved. 

(4.) Hybrid words, Greek and Latin; as. Bigamy, mine- 
ralogy, monoculous, which are approved ; and omnigraph, om- 
nigraphic, which are disapproved. 

DEVELOPMENT OF THE ANGLO-SAXON PORTION OF 
THE LANGUAGE. 

§ 835. T]ie consideration of the natural development of 
language adds much to its right appreciation. 

The natural development of the Anglo-Saxon portion of 
our language has been nearly as follows ; 



DERIVATION. 



343 



I. Natural or instinctive formations, the first or lowest step 
in language. 

1, Interjections and imitations of Aatural sounds ; as, Ahj 
Oh ; mew, peep. See Chap. XXVII. 

2. Pronominal elements (as, Jc, m, w, th, y, h, th demon- 
strative, 5, wh), and words formed from them. See § 336. 

II. Logical formations, the full step in language, as pro- 
ceeding from the intellectual principle. 

1. Roots, originally denoting physical action or motion, 
and including, 

(1.) Stem-verbs of the old or strong conjugation; as, Swim, 
swam, swum. 

(2.) Stem-verbs of the new or weak conjugation ; as, Killy 
killed, killed. ' , 

(3.) Stem-verbs of the mixed conjugation ; as. Bring", 
brought, brought. 

2. Stems, to be referred in each case to a verbal root, 
whether such root actually exists or not, and formed some- 
times with and sometimes without an internal change of 
vowel, including, 

(1.) Stem-adjectives ; as. Blank from to blink, blind from 
to blend, tvrong from to wring, much, long, fat ; developed 
for the most part in antithetic pairs ; as. Great and small, 
high and low, thick and thin. 

(2.) Stem-substantives; as. Band from to bind, cake from, 
to cook, doom from to deem, arm, heart, door. 

3. Reduplicate forms ; as. Chit-chat from chat, sing-song 
from song, see-saw from to saw. 

4. Primary derivatives, i. e., derivatives immediately from 
the stem, including, 

(1.) Derivative verbs ; as, Chatter, a frequentative from 
to chat ; crackle, a diminutive from to crack ; harden, a 
factitive from hard. 

(2.) Derivative adjectives ; as, Toilsome from to toil, tire- 
some from to tire, whitish from white, winged from wing, 
golden from gold, northern from north, fearful irom. fear, 
fearless hom. fear, manly from man, muddy from mud, back- 
ward from back. 

(3.) Derivative adverbs; as. Wisely from wise, backward 



344 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

from back ; also, some adverbs which have lost their Anglo- 
Saxon termination ; as, Fast^ high, hard, loud, long, late^ 
right, sore, thick, wide, evil or ill. See § 319. 

(4.) Derivative concrete substantives ; as, Baker from to 
bake, punster from to pun, hireling from to hire, dullard an 
ampliative from dull, lambkin a diminutive irom lamb, hill- 
ock a diminutive from hill. 

(5.) Derivative abstract substantives; as, Binding from to 
bind, strength from strong, height from high, freedom from 
free, goodness from good, manhood from mail, Godhead from 
God, sonship from son. 

5. Secondary derivatives, i. e., derivatives from other de- 
rivatives ; as, Fearfully, fear fulness, fearlessly, fearlessness, 
tiredness, learnedly, waywardness, ivestwardly, tiresomeness. 

6. Words with prefixes ; as. Arise from rise, abed for on 
bed, befall, by-gone, forbid, foretell, income, mistake, offset, 
onset, outgo, overcome, undo, underbid, upstart, withstand. 
See § 345. 

7. Compound words, including, 

(1.) Imperfect compounds; as, God-man, deaf-mute, four' 
teen, hap-hazard. 

(2.) Perfect compounds ; as, Foeman, snow-white, rats'' ^ 
bane. 

(3.) Inverted compounds ; as. Wagtail, pickpurse, break- 
fast. See § 361. 

8. Words formed by internal or external inflection: 
(1.) To express gender: 

Masculine substantives in er ; as. Widower ; and in ard; 
as. Wizard. 

Feminine substantives in ster ; as. Spinster ; in i?ie ; as. 
Landgravine ; and in ess ; as. Goddess. 

(2.) To express number : 

Plural substantives in en ; as. Oxen from ox ; formed by 
internal inflection ; as, Mice from mouse ; and in s ; as, 
Hands from hand. 

(3.) To express case : 

Genitives singular in h ; as. Churches, righteousness^. 

Genitives plural in '5 ; as. Men's, women's. 

(4.) To express comparison in adjectives and adverbs : 



DERIVATION. 345 

Comparatives in er, and superlatives in est ; as, Hard, 
harder, hardest ; soon, sooner, soonest. 

(5.) To express forms and tenses in verbs : 

Past tenses and past participles after the old or strong con- 
jugation ; as, Swim, swam, swum ; after the weak conjuga- 
tion ; as, Kill, killed, killed ; and after the mixed conjuga- 
tion ; as. Bring-, brought, brought. 

Present participles in ing; as. Swimming, killing, bring- 
ing. 

(6.) To express persons in verbs : 

Third persons of the present tense in eth or s ; as, Kill- 
eth or kills. 

Second persons in est of the present tense ; as, Killest ; and 
of the past tense ; as, Killedst. 

The foreign element of the English language comes not 
here into consideration. 

'c . 

PRONOMINAL ELEMENTS. 

§ 336. If we take a general etymological survey of pro- 
nouns and pronominal words, they will be found to arrange 
themselves not under verbal roots, like other parts of speech, 
but under certain elementary sounds or syllables. 

1. Ic, the element of the first person singular subject, ap- 
pears now only in the mutilated form I. Compare Anglo- 
Saxon ic. Old English ic. 

2. M, the element of the first person singular object, ap- 
pears in me, my, mine. 

3. W, the element of the first person plural, appears in 
we, our, ours, us. 

4. Th, the element of the second person singular, inter- 
mediate between Latin t and German d, appears in thou, thy, 
thine, thee. Perhaps radically connected with th, the de- 
monstrative element mentioned below. 

5. Y, the element of the second person plural, appears in 
ye, your, yours, you. 

6. H, the element of the third person and of the nearer de- 
monstrative, appears in he, his, him, her (genitive and accusa- 
tive), it (Anglo-Saxon hit), its, hence, here, hither. 

7. Th, the element of the more remote demonstrative, ap- 



346 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

pears in that, those^ thisytliese, the, thilk, thence, there, thith- 
er, then, thus, though, they, their, theirs, them. But thi^ 
and these have been transferred to the nearer demonstratives, 
and they, their, theirs, and them are used as pronouns of the 
third person. 

8. S, another form of the remoter demonstrative element, 
appears in she, so, some, also, as, such. 

9. Wh, the interrogative element, appears in who, what, 
whose, whom, which, whether, whence, where, whither, when, 
how, why. All these words, excepting whether, are also em- 
ployed as relatives. ' 

ROOTS IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 

§ 337. 1. With the exception of pronouns, interjections, 
and a few onomatopoetioal forms, words in English, as well 
as in most other languages, are, as linguistical signs of ideas, 
composed of two parts, viz., the root and the modifying ele- 
ment, which is attached to the root and gives it its form. 

2. It is obviously important for every one who would mas- 
ter the whole vocabulary of any language, or would possess 
a full and thorough knowledge of the words which he em- 
ploys, to have a clear perception of the root whence a word 
is derived, and of the force of the various modifications by 
which it has been affected. What is intended by calling one 
animal a sloth, another a hare, another a wolf, another a 
crab, is first fully understood and appreciated when we are 
able to trace back these words to their several roots, viz., 
English slow ; Sanscrit s'«s', to spring ; Gothic walw, to 
seize ; Norse kriapa, to creep. Without such knowledge 
language is merely a collection of proper names, or an assem- 
blage of technical expressions, the application of which is to 
be learned by dint of memory, or like foreign words, whose 
meaning we may understand, but not see into. 

3. Although instinct, without direct instruction, by lead- 
ing us to consider words in groups, may avail much in the 
acquirement of this kind of knowledge, yet it would be strange 
if wisely directed study could not aid the mind and increase 
its powers and capabilities. 

4. A root, taken in its strictest sense, is a significant ele- 



DERIVATION. 347 

meiit, from which words, as forms of thought and parts of 
speech, are derived. It is not itself a word, but that which 
lies at the foundation of a whole family of words. The root 
has signification, but not a definite signification, in the sys- 
tem of our ideas or in the system of language. It does not 
express an idea which can form a component part of lan- 
guage, but only the intuition or appearance which is com- 
mon to the noun or idea and the verb or judgment, and wants 
the modification which makes it a noun or verb. It is no 
part of ordinary speech. 

5. The root, as described above, is something below the 
surface, but in common parlance the name is extended to 
words derived immediately from the root, which are, as it 
were, the first sections of the trunk or stem which appear 
above the ground. It is convenient to give the root such a 
vowel or enunciation as it assumes in its first birth or com- 
ing into existence. Thus band may be considered the root 
of hand^ bind, bond, bundle, &c. 

6. Roots, in the looser sense, generally denote physical 
objects, are monosyllabic in their form, composed of simple 
rather than double consonants, and of the primary rather than 
the secondary vowels. 

7. The doctrine concerning the formation of words from 
roots, as the roots do not properly exist in the language, and 
are only discoverable by etymology, is one of the deepest and 
most difficult in grammar, yet it is indispensable for sound 
criticism. In the Western languages especially the roots are 
nearly obliterated. Hence many phenomena in these lan- 
guages have been misunderstood by grammarians. The dif- 
ficulty of tracing the root in English consists, 

(1.) In its being hidden or concealed by the numerous syl- 
lables by which it is surrounded; as i in transitoriness, die 
in dedicate. 

(2.) In its being changed by euphonic laws ; as, frag" in 
fragile, frangible, refract, infringe, break, breach, etc. ; 
leg in legible, collect. 

(3.) In its being modified in different languages ; as, Ger- 
man tod, English death. 

(4.) In the meaning being changed ; as, Canvas, hemp^ 



348 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

both connected with Latin cannabis; kid and goat, both 
connected with Latin hoddus ; host and guest, both connected 
with Latin hostis. 

(5.) In its involving, from the mixed character of our lan- 
guage, a knowledge of the euphonic laws severally of the 
Greek, Latin, Teutonic, and also the Sanscrit languages. 

8. In the English language roots are often modified by the 
following processes, which all deserve attention : 

(1.) A root ending in a single consonant usually assumes, 
in becoming a word, a silent e ; as. Imbibe, produce, deride, 
convene^ move, etc. 

So some roots ending with a double consonant ; as, In^ 
fringe. 

(2.) The root sometimes assumes an infinitive termination 
t, which is derived from turn, the termination of the supine 
or ancient infinitive form in Latin ; as, diet, in predict, from 
die. 

(3.) The root often assumes an epenthetic n ; as, Frang^ 
in frangible, from frag. 

(4.) The root often changes g before t into c, and b be- 
fore s into p ; as. Act from ag ; lapse from lab. 

(5.) The root often changes its vowel ; as. Fringe, in in- 
frikge, fxom. frag. 

(6.) The root often undergoes mutilation ; as. Frail, for 
fragile, from frag ; I from ic. 

SPECIMEN OF A VOCABULARY OF ENGLISH ROOTS. 

Ag (doing, primar. driving), a Latin root, which occurs in 
three forms: (1.) simple ag, whence agent, agile; (2.) ac, 
before suffixes commencing with t ; as. Act, actor, action ; 
(3.) ig, with change of vowel, whence exigent, exigency. 

Frag (breaking), a Latin root, which occurs in five forms . 
(1.) simple /ra^, whence fragile ; (2.) frac, before suffixes 
commencing with t ; as, Fraction, refract ; (3.) frang, with 
epenthetic n, whence frangible ; (4.) fring, with epenthetic 
n and change of vowel, whence infringe ; (5.) fra, with mu- 
tilated form ; as. Frail. The corresponding Teutonic root is 
brak, which see. 

Brak (breaking), a Teutonic root, which occurs in two 



DERIVATION. 



349 



forms: (1.) with change of vowel; as, Break; (2.) with 
change of vowel and of palatal ; as. Breach. The correspond- 
ing Latin root is frag, which see. 

Tag (touching), a Latin root, which occurs in six forms: 
(1.) simple tag, whence contagious ; (2.) tac, before suffixes 
commencing with t; as, Contact; (3.) ^a^g-, with epenthetic 
n, whence tangent, tangible ; (4.) tig, with change of vowel, 
whence contiguous ; (5.) ting, with epenthetic n and change 
of vowel, whence contingent; (6.) with French form; as, 
Touch. The corresponding Teutonic root is thak, which see. 

Thak (liter, touching), a Teutonic root, which occurs in 
two forms : (1.) with epenthetic n and change of vowel; as, 
Think ; (2.) with broadened vowel and change of k into gh 
before t ; as, Thought. The corresponding Latin root is 
^ag-, which see. 

Fer (bearing), a Latin root, whence refer, flammiferous. 
The corresponding Teutonic root is bar, which see. 

Bar (bearing), a Teutonic root, whence, with variety of 
vowel, bear, burden. The corresponding Latin root is fer^ 
which see. 

Leg (laying), a Latin root, which occurs in two forms : 
(1.) simple leg, whence legible; (2.) lee, before suffixes com- 
mencing with t ; as. Collect, select. The corresponding Teu- 
tonic form is lay, which see. 

Lay (laying), a Teutonic root, which is formed from leg 
by softening. 

Pon (placing), a Latin root, which occurs in four forms : 
(1.) simple pon, whence oppone, depone ; (2.) pound, with 
broadened vowel and paragogic d, whence expound, propound; 
(3.) J905, with s instead of 7^; di^. Appose, apposition ; (4.)j90, 
with mutilated form, whence depot. 

Lab (gliding), a Latin root, which occurs in two forms : 
(1.) simple /«6, whence labent ; (2.) lap, before suffixes be- 
ginning with s ; as, Collapse, elapse. 

Baph (merging), a Greek root, which occurs in English, 
not in its simple form, baph, but only in the form bapt, which 
is strengthened by t, and modified by a euphonic law, whence, 
with frequentative termination, baptize. 

Merg (plunging), a Latin root, which occurs in two forms: 



350 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

(1.) simple merg, whence merge; (2.) mer^ with mutila- 
ted form before suffixes beginning with s ; as. Immerse, mer- 
sion. 

Tig /merging), a Latin root, which occurs in three forms: 
(1.) ting, with epenthetic n, whence tinge ; (2.) tine, with 
euphonic change before suffixes beginning with t ; as, Tinct, 
tincture ; (3.) with mutilated form through the French; as, 
Tint, taint. The corresponding Teutonic root is duck, 
which see. 

Duck (plunging), a Teutonic root, which occurs in two 
forms : (1.) simple duck, whence duck ; (2.) with mutilated 
form ; as, Dye. 

Dip (wetting), a Teutonic root, whence dip, and a collat- 
eral form dive, and with a prefix s, steep. 

Fud (pouring), a Latin root, which occurs in three forms; 
(1.) fund, with epenthetic n, whence refund ; (2.) found, 
with epenthetic n and lengthened vowel, whence found, con- 
found ; {Z.\ fu, with mutilated form before suffixes begin- 
ning with s ; as, Affuse, confuse. 

Frug (enjoying), a Latin root, vv^hich occurs in three forms : 
(1.) simple frug, whence frugal ; (2.) fruc, with euphonic 
change, before suffixes beginning with t, whence fructify ; 
(3.) with softened form before suffixes beginning with t ; as, 
Fruit, fruitful. 

Cre (making), a Latin root ; whence procreant, create, etc. 

Cred (believing), a Latin root, which occurs in two forms : 
(1.) cred, whence credit, credence ; (2.) with lengthened 
vowel ; as, Creed. 

Clud (shutting), a Latin root, which occurs in four forms; 
(1.) simple clud, whence include; (2.) claud, with length- 
ened vowel, whence claudent ; (3.) clu, with mutilated form 
before suffixes beginning with s ; as. Exclusion ; (4.) with 
lengthened vowel and mutilated form before suffixes begin- 
ning with 5; as. Clause, cloister, close. 

Clam (crying), a Latin root, which occurs in two forms ; 
(1.) simple clam, whence clamor, acclamation; (2.) with 
lengthening of a by i ; as, Acclaim, exclaim. 



DERIVATION. 251 

SPECIMEN OF A VOCABULARY OF ENGLISH ROOTS, 
WiTH THEIR DERIVATIVES. 

§ 338. Teutonic and Latin roots are often related to each 
other, and may sometimes be traced to a common origin in 
the Sanscrit, a point now to be illustrated more fully. 

I. Teutonic \/ bat and but, and Latin V bat, (striking). 

A. Teutonic forms : 

The root bat appears in Anglo-Saxon bat, a club ; bate, 
contention ; gebatod, abated. 

The root but appears in Anglo-Saxon beate, I beat, a verb 
of conj. xii., past beot, part, beaten, where ea of the present 
and participle represents au, the gunation of the radical vowel 
u, and eo of the past represents the reduplication which be- 
longs to the twelfth conjugation. 

Radical verb : Beat (Old English bete'), past beat (Old En- 
glish bet\, part, beaten (Old English beten), where e or ea 
of the present and participle represents Anglo-Saxon ea, and 
e or ea of the past tense represents the ancient reduplication. 

Stem-nouns : Bat, a club ; bate, contention (see the com- 
pounds) ; beat, a stroke. 

Derivatives : Beaten', beating-, beetle (Old English bytel, 
Anglo-Saxon bytl), with ee= Anglo- Saxon y, the attenuation 
of Anglo-Saxon ea, and with suffix 7e, denoting the instru- 
ment. 

Compounds : Bate-breeding, breeding contention ; beetle- 
brow, beetle-head, beetle-stock, gold-beater, make-bate. 

B. Latin forms: 

The root bat appears in the derivative verb batuo, I strike, 
infin. batuere ; whence Italian battere, Spanish batir, Portu- 
guese bater, French battre. 

E-adical verb : Bate, weakly inflected. 

Derivatives : (1.) with suffixes merely : Bat able, bating, 
batement, batter (compare French battre), retaining the 
French infinitive termination, battery, battle (French bataille, 
Low Latin batualia and bataliaX, battalion (French batail- 
Ion) ; (2.) with prefixes : Abate, abatement, abattis, combat, 
comoatant, debate, debatable, debater. 



352 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

IT. Teutonic %/ bla^ and Latin s/ fla^ (blowing). 
From Sanscrit %/ dlima (blowing), are derived, by a com« 
mon exchange of letters, Teutonic \/ hla and Latin %/ fla. 

A. Teutonic forms : 

The root hla appears in Anglo-Saxon blawe, I blow, a verb 
of conj. vii., past bleow, part, blawen^ where a represents 
Gothic az, the weakening of a+«j and eo represents the an- 
cient reduplication which belongs to the seventh conjugation. 

Radical verb : Blow, past blew, part, blown, where 6 rep- 
resents Anglo-Saxon a, and e represents the ancient redupli- 
cation. 

Stem-noun : Blow, a gale of wind. 

Derivatives : Blaze, with a common increase of root by 5 
or z, (compare Anglo-Saxon blcesan, to blow, and blcese, a 
blaze, with ce, the attenuation of Anglo-Saxon a\ ; blaze, 
noun ; blast, blood (Gothic bloth, Anglo-Saxon blod ; com- 
pare Sanscrit dhamani, a vein, from v/ dhma\, bleed (Anglo- 
Saxon bledan, where e is an attenuation of o), blade (Anglo- 
Saxon bleed, primar. a blast), bladder (Anglo-Saxon blcedr^, 
blister, bluster. 

Compounds : Blazing-star, blood- guilty, blood-hound^ 
blood-vessel, shoulder-blade. 

B. Latin forms : 

The root fla appears in Latin flo, I blow, past flavi, sup. 
flatum. 

Derivatives: (1.) with suffixes merely: Flatulent, flatu- 
lence ; (2.) with prefixes: Afllate, inflate, inflation. 

III. Teutonic y/ bak, Latin V coq, and Greek V ttstt, 
(baking). 

From Sanscrit >/ patsh are derived Teutonic -/ bak, Latin 
y/ coq, and Greek V Tren. On this interchange ofp and k, 
see Amer. Journ. Science, vol. xxxiv., p. 341. 

A. Teutonic forms : 

The root bak appears in Anglo-Saxon bace, 1 bake, a verb 
of conj. iv., past boc, part, bacen, when d = a-\-a. 

Radical verb : Bake, past baked, part, baken. 

Stem-noun : Bake, batch, with tsh a weakening of k. 

Derivatives : Baker, bakery, . baking. 



DERIVATION. 



353 



Compound : Bake-house. 

B. Latin forms : 

The root coq appears in Latin coquo, I bake, past coxi^ 
sup. coctum. This form of the root passed early into the 
Teutonic languages ; as, Anglo-Saxon cocan. 
y Radical verb : Cook, weakly inflected. 

Stem-nouns: Cook (Anglo-Saxon coc. liSitm coquusj, cake 
(Old German kuoche). 

Derivatives : (1.) with suffixes merely : Coctile, coction^ 
cookery, kitchen (Anglo-Saxon cycene, Latin coquina^ ; 
(2.) with prefixes : Concoct, concoction, decoct, decoctiblCy 
decoction, recoct. 

Compound : Biscuit (French biscuit, twice baked). 

C. Greek forms : 

The root ttstt appears in Greek ttettto), I bake. 
Compounds: Dyspepsy, dyspeptic. 

IV. Teutonic V bid, (waiting). 

The root Z>z<i appears in Gothic beida, I wait, a verb of 
conj. v., with gunated vowel, past baid, part, bidans ; Anglo- 
Saxon bide, past bad, plur. bidon, part, biden. 

Radical verb : Bide, past bode, part, bode^ where o of past 
tense represents Anglo-Saxon a. 

Stem-noun : Bet (Anglo-Saxon bad), a deposit in waiting, 
whence to bet. 

Derivatives: (1.) with suffixes merely: Biding; (2.) with 
prefixes : Abide, oMding,^ abidance, abode, 

V. Teutonic >/ blic, Latin s/ fulg and sf flag, and Greek 
x/ 0A£y, (shining). 

From Sanscrit ^/ bhradzh (shining) are derived Teuton'O 
s/ blic, Latin V fulg and y/ flag, and Greek v/ (^Iej. 

A. Teutonic forms : 

The root blic appears in Anglo-Saxon Mice, I shine, a verb 
of conj. V. with gunated vowel, past blac, plur. blicon, part. 
blicen ; blac^ dusky, pale, black ; blacian, to blacken ; bl(B' 
can, to bleach ; also, with epenthetic n, in German blinken^ 
to shine, (compare German blicken, to gleam). 

Radical verb : Blink, to wink, with epenthetic n. 

Z 



354 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

Stem-nouns : Blanks white, (whence blanch, to whiten) ; 
black (from Anglo-Saxon blac, dusky, pale, black) ; bleak, 
pale, (Old English bleche, white; whence bleach, to whiten), 
from the same Anglo-Saxon blac. 

Derivatives with suffixes merely : BUnkard, blancard, 
blankly, blancher, blacken, blacking, blackness, bleakness, 
bleaky, bleacher, bleachery, bleaching. 

Compounds : Blanc-manger, blanchimeter, blackball^ 
blackguard, blacksmith, etc. 

B. Latin forms : 

The root fulg appears in Latin fulgeo, I shine, whence 
fulgidus, shining; fulmen (iox fulgimen), lightning. 

The root flag appears in Latin flagro, I burn, with root 
strengthened by r ; flagitium, excitement, crime ; flamma 
(compare Greek (pXeyiia), with g assimilated to m. 

Derivatives: (1.) with suffixes merely: Fulgent, fulgid, 
fulminant (compare Latin fulmen), fulminate, flagrant, 
flagrantly, flagitious, flame, flammeous ; (2.) with prefixes: 
Effulgent, interfulgent, refulgent, conflagration, deflagra^ 
tor, inflame, inflammable. 

C. Greek forms : 

The root ^Asy is seen in ^Xsyio, I burn. 

Derivatives : (1.) with suffixes merely : Phlegm, phleg- 
matic, phlegmon, phlogiston ; (2.) with prefixes : Antiphlo- 
gistic. 

VI. Teutonic >/ ga (going). 

From Sanscrit ^/ ga (going), indie, pres. with reduplica- 
tion dzhagami, is derived Teutonic v/ ga. 

The root ga appears in Gothic gagga (pronounced gan- 
ga\, I go, with reduplication and epenthetic n, past gaggida, 
with the weak inflection ; Anglo-Saxon ga and gange, with 
and without reduplication, past gengde, with the weak in- 
flection, part, gan and gangen. 

Radical verbs : Go, past vjent (from wend, now used only 
in poetry), part, gone, where o= Anglo-Saxon a ; gang, in 
the same sense (see example 1, below), obsolescent. 

Stem-nouns : Gang, a company, primar. a going, (com- 
pare Gothic gagg, a street ; Anglo-Saxon gang, a way) ; 



DERIVATION. 355 

g'angue, the course of a vein ; Ganges (Sanscrit Ganga^ 
Persian Gang, Greek Vdyyriq, Latin Ganges), primar. a riv- 
er, hence the river of India. 

Derivatives : (1.) with suffixes merely : G^a^e (Gothic gatioo, 
a street ; Anglo-Saxon gcBt, a gate), gait (Old English gate 
and gait; see examples 2 and 3, below), the same word with 
different orthography, for sake of distinction ; (2.) with pre- 
fixes : Forego, part, foregone, outgo, outgoing. 
-^ Compbunds : Go-between, go-cart, gangway, gateway, he- 
gone (more correctly in two words, be gone), begone, with 
suffix be (see example 4, helow), toll-gate. 

Examples for Illustration. 

1. " And thence can see gang in and out my neat." — " 
Ben.Jonson. • - 

2. '' Methought thy very gate did prophecie a royal noble- 
nesse."- — Shakspeare. 

3. " And kept an even gait.^^—Ben Jonson. 

4. <^ With gold begon,^^ i.e., painted with gold. — Romaunt 
of the Rose. 

VII. Latin y/ fra (smelling). 

From Sanscrit %/ ghra (smelling), indie, pres. with redu- 
plication dzhighrami, is derived Latin \/ fra, by substitu- 
ting a homogeneous consonant. 

The root fra appears in Latin fragum, a strawberry, with 
root strengthened by g; fragro {t\iQmQ fragra), to emit a 
smell, by reduplication (compare Sanscrit dzhigrmni), or by 
composition with ger, carrying, as \i fra-ger-o ; fragrans 
(theme fragrant), with participial termination ant (= San- 
scrit ant, Zend and, Persian end, Greek ovr) ; fragrantia, 
fragrance, as if nom. plur. neut. from fragrans, and used ab- 
stractly. 

Derivatives : Fragrant, with adjective termination ant 
(=Proven9al and French ant, Italian, Spanish, and Portu- 
guese ante), derived from Latin participial termination ; fra- 
grance said fragrancy (with the termination ance and ancy 
= Proven9al and Italian anza, Spanish and Portuguese ancia, 
French ance), from hditixx fragrantia ; fragrantly, with ad- 



356 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

verbial termination ly (= Icelandic liga^ Anglo-Saxon lice^ 
German licli)^ a mutilation of like. 

THE ENGLISH ROOTS "TO W I t" . A N D ''TO KNOW/' 

I. To wit. 

§ 339. It is a very remarkable circumstance that the 
same original root, signifying to see and to know, (these ideas 
being closely related,) is found in eight different families of 
the Indo-European stock of languages, and that this root has 
come into the English language in six different ways, thus 
exhibiting clearly the composite nature of our vernacular 
tongue. 

The form of the root referred to is, in the different lan- 
guages, as follows : 

1. Sanscrit vid, to know; hence veda, " science," a name 
given to certain sacred books among the Hindoos. 

2. Zend vid, to know. 

3. Greek 16, to see, to know ; hence idea, an image. 

4. Latin vid, to see ; hence provide, to look out for. 
Old French veer, veoir, French voir, to see ; hence sur- 
vey, io oversee. 

5. Teutonic, Moeso- Gothic veitan, to see, to know ; hence 
to wit, to know. 

Old High- German wizan, German wissen, to know ; hence 
wis, past wist, to know. 

6. Slavonic vjedjeti, to know. 

7. Lithuanian weizdmi, I see. 

^ . 8. Celtic, Welsh gwydh, knowledge. 

II. To know. 

The Indo-European languages, it is well known, are re- 
lated to each other. Many roots are common to all these 
languages. Among the roots very extensively diffused is 
the Sanscrit dzhna, Greek gno, Latin gno or no, Anglo- 
Saxon cnaw, all signifying '' to know." 

It is somewhat remarkable that this root has come into 
our language in three several ways, and exists there in three 
different forms, each distinctly marked, and supported by its 
own appropriate train of derivatives. 



DERIVATION. 



357 



1. From the Anglo-Saxon cnaw, the Teutonic form of the 
root, comes English know, with the usual change of Anglo- 
Saxon a into o ; knew, the past tense formed by internal in- 
flection ; known, the past participle with the ancient term- 
ination en or n ; knowing, the present participle ; knowings 
a verbal noun, denoting the abstract ; knoioer, with the suffix 
er, denoting the personal subject ; know able, with the Latin 
suffix able ; knowledge, (whence acknowledge^ with a suffix 
ledge of uncertain origin. 

2. From the Latin root gno or no comes English note, 
"known," that by which a thing is known; notion, ''a know- 
ing," a conception; noble, " knowable," famous, (whence ig» 
noble^ ; noun, (a contraction of nomen,) '' that by which a 
thing is known," a name, (whence ignominy) ; ignorant, not 
knowing. ' 

3. From the Greek root gno comes English gnome, 
•* something known," a maxim;, gnomon, ''knowing," the 
style or pin of a dial ; gnosis, " a knowing," in prognosis ; 
Gnostic, "knowing," belonging to a sect of Oriental philoso-. 
phers. 

The initial palatine k or g* of the root is audible in forms com- 
mencing with a prefix ; as, Acknowledge, ignoble, prognosis. 

In elementary instruction, it is desirable that the different 
component parts of our language should be kept distinct; 
while at the same time the ultimate identity of the roots is 
noticed. 



ENGLISH SUFFIXES. 



§ 340. It is believed that the portion of English grammar 
devoted to the formation of words by means of suffixes is capa- 
ble of much improvement. It appears as if our grammarians 
had not sufficiently investigated the ancient cognate languages 
in order to determine the primary and derived meanings qf 
these suffixes, and, consequently, they give us little satisfac- 
tion on this subject. Yet every one will admit the import- 
ance of understanding these suffixes. It is proposed to take 
a few English suffixes, and exhibit (1.) the corresponding 
forms in the cognate languages ; (2.) their origin, if any 
plausible derivation can be given ; (3.) their primary and 



358 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

secondary meanings, arranged in genealogical order ; and 
(4.) English examples of the suffixes. 

"hood" or "head." 

§ 341. Corresponding' Forms. — Old German heitj keit ; 
Old Saxon hed ; Anglo-Saxon had ; German heit^ keit ; 
Swedish liet ; Danish hed; Dutch heid. 

Origin. — -Meidinger compares Old German heit, a person, 
and illustrates its use by German schonheit, a beauty, i. e., a 
beautiful person. But this is altogether unsatisfactory. Dr. 
Webster derives it from Saxon had, state, habit, condition, 
and this from Saxon hadian, to ordain, as if to set or place. 
In this he is more successful. 

Signification. — This suffix is employed to form abstract' 
nouns from adjectives and attributives, in order to denote 
(1.) the nature or essence; as, Godhead; (2.) the quality; 
as, Hardihood, lustihood; (3.) the state; ^'&, Boyhood, child- 
hood; (4.) the condition ; ^^, Knighthood, priesthood; (5.) by 
a metonymy of the abstract for the concrete, something pos- 
sessing the quality ; as. Falsehood ; (6.) by a metonymy of 
the abstract, also the collective concrete ; as. Neighborhood, 
sisterhood ; (7.) by a metonymy of the effect for the cause, 
the means ; di^, Livelihood. 

Examples of suffix hood : Boyhood, brotherhood, child- 
hood, falsehood, hardihood, knighthood, likelihood, livelihood, 
lustihood, maidenhood, manhood, neighborhood, priesthood, 
sisterhood, widowhood, womanhood. Examples of suffix 
head : Godhead, hardihead, maidenhead ; also. Old English 
brotherhede, bisyhed, boldehed, fairehed, wighthede, yung- 
head. 

Remark. — This suffix interchanges (1.) with suffix dom ; 
as, German Christenheit, English Christendom ; German 
weisheit, English wisdom ; German freiheit, English freedom ; 
(2. V with suffix ness ; as, German gatheit, English good- 
ness; (3.) with suffix ship; as, English brotherhood, Ger- 
man briiderschaft. 



DERIVATION. 359 

"DOM." 

§ 342. Corresponding Forms, — Sanscrit tvan ; Latin 
tium ; Old German duam^ duom, tuam^ tuorti, toam ; Old 
Norse domr ; Anglo-Saxon dor/i ; German thum ; Swedish 
dom^ dosme ; Danish dom ; Dutch dom. 

Origin. — This suffix is derived, according to some, from 
Saxon dom^ law, judgment; and this from Gothic domjan^ 
English doom, to judge, rule. But the corresponding San- 
scrit and Latin forms, and its various uses, render this deriva- 
tion improbable. Oswald's derivation from Latin domus, a 
house, is altogether unfounded. 

Signification. — This suffix is employed to form abstract 
nouns from adjectives 9-nd attributives, and denotes (1.) the 
quality ; as. Wisdom ; (2.) an act ; as, Martyrdom^ cuckold- 
dom; (3.) the state; a^, Freedom^ thraldom; (4.) the con- 
dition ; as, Birthdom ; (5.) appurtenances or possessions ; as, 
Princedom, dukedom ; (6.) by a metonymy of the abstract, 
also the collective concrete ; as, Christendom, peerdom. 

Examples. — Birthdom, Christendom, cuckolddom, duke- 
dorh, earldom, freedom, kingdom, martyrdom, peerdom, pope- 
dom, princedom, sheriffdom, thraldom, whoredom, wisdom. 

Remark. — This suffix interchanges (1.) with suffix hood; 
as, English wisdom, German w^eisheit ; (2.) with suffix ric ; 
as, Anglo-Saxon bishopdom, English bishopric ; (3.) with 
suffix ship ; as, Anglo-Saxon abbotdom, English abbotship. 



§ 343. Corresponding Forr/is. — Old German scaf ; Old 
Saxon scepi ; Anglo-Saxon sceaft, scype, scipe ; Old Norse 
skapr ; German schaft ; Swedish skap ; Danish skab ; Dutch 
scap, schap. 

Origin. — This suffix is derived from Gothic skapan ; Old 
German scaffan; Anglo-Saxon sceapan, scyppan; Old Norse 
skapa, skipa ; German schaffen ; Swedish skapa ; Danish 
skabe ; Dutch scheppen ; English to shape ; and denotes the 
make or shape. 

Signification. — This suffix denotes (1.) the state ; as, 
Friendship ; (2.) an act; as, Courtship ; (3.) the condition ; 



360 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

as, Wardship ; (4.) appurtenances or possessions ; as, Lord- 
ship ; (5.) by a metonymy of the cause, the effect ; as, Work' 
manship. 

Examples of suffix ship : Apprenticeship, bachelorship, 
canonship, captainship, censorship, chancellorship, chaplain- 
ship, clerkship, comptroUership, copartnership, counselorship, 
courtship, controUership, deaconship, dictatorship, executor- 
ship, guardianship, fellowship, friendship, hardship, horseman- 
ship, kingship, ladyship, lordship, lieutenantship, partnership, 
prenticeship, professorship, rectorship, rivalship, scholarship, 
sergeantship, soldiership, sonship, stewardship, secretariship, 
surveyorship, suretiship, survivorship, township, vicarship, 
worship, wardship, sheriffship, rivalship, workmanship. Ex- 
ample of suffix scape : Landscape. 

Remark. — This suffix interchanges (1.) with ^u&xhood; 
as, German briiderschaft, English brotherhood; (2.) with suffix 
dom ; as, English abbotship, Anglo-Saxon abbotdom. 



§ 344. 1. This suffix is found in upward of thirteen hund- 
red words, and is worthy of attention on account of the ex- 
tent of its use. 

2. The corresponding forms in the cognate dialects are: 
Moeso-Gothic inassus ; Old German nissa^ nissi ; Old Saxon 
nessi ; Anglo-Saxon nes, nis, nys ; German niss ; Dutch 
nis. It is not found in the Scandinavian dialects. 

3. The modern English orthography of this suffix is con- 
stant and uniform. The vowel is always e. But in the 
more ancient dialects, the vowel before ss vacillated between 
a^ /, and u^ without any obvious difference of meaning. 

4. The n of this suffix has evidently arisen from agglutina- 
tion. Compare the Moeso-Gothic blot-in-assus, " worship," 
as if from the verb blot-in^on. Nothing further than this has 
Deen discovered as to its origin. 

5. The suffix ness^ in English, is a living suffix, that is, 
it has a meaning present to the mental conception of those 
who use it, and is capable of being affixed to new words. 

6. The suffix ness^ in English, forms abstract nouns from 
adjectives. These abstract nouns denote, 



DERIVATION. 



361 



( (1.) The quality, in a substantive form, of the adjective 
from vi^hich they are derived ; as. Goodness, hardness. 

(2.) Occasionally, by a metonymy of the abstract for the 
concrete, something possessing the quality ; a fastness, a 
likeness. 

The suffix niss, in German, is attached also to verbs. It 
denotes (1.) the action; as, Verderbniss, ''corruption;" (2.) by 
a metonymy, the subject of the action ; as, Hinderniss^ 
" something that hinders ;" and (3.) by a metonymy, the 
object of the action; as, Erzeugniss, "something produced." 

7. The suffix ness is primarily and properly annexed to 
radical adjectives of Teutonic origin ; as, Tameness, sweet- 
,ness, wideness, softness, thus forming primary or regular de- 
rivatives. 

8. The suffix ness is annexed to derivative Teutonic ad- 
jectives in ed,full, ish, less, ly, some, ward, and y, thus form- 
ing secondary or abnormal derivatives. Thus wickedness^ 
cheerfulness, &c. 

9. Secondary derivatives thus formed accord nearly in sig- 
nification with the nouns from which the adjectives are de- 
rived. The meaning only is more specific and definite. Thus 
carefulness and care, fear fulness and fear, f rightfulness and 
fright, neediness and need. 

10. The suffix ness is annexed also to adjectives of Latin 
origin, both primitive and derivative ; as, Crudeness, copious- 
ness. It thus forms a large number of words which are pe- 
culiar to the English language. 

11. It forms synonyms in this way; as, Crudeness and 
crudity, superfluousness and superfluity, pureness and purity y 
etc. The former noun in each of these couplets inclines more 
to retain its abstract signification. 

12. Many nouns formed from adjectives in this way ac- 
cord nearly with the Latin substantives from which the ad- 
jectives are derived, thus exhibiting a singular phenomenon 
in language. Compare morbidness with Latin morbus, copi- 
ousness with Latin copia, judiciousness with 'Laiin judicium. 
The meaning, however, is somewhat more abstract. 

13. Abstract nouns in ness never receive an additional 
suffix. The genitive or possessive case, where it is wanted, 



352 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

is expressed by a simple apostrophe ; as, '* for righteousness* 
sake." The plural occurs in the Bible in some unfortunate 
imitations of the Hebrew ; as, Forgivenesses, Dan. ix. 9 ; 
righteousnesses, Isa. Ixiv. 6 ; Ezek. xxxiii. 13 ; Dan. ix. 18. 

14. This suffix interchanges (1.) with the suffix hoodj 
as, Goodness, German gutheit ; highness, German hoheit ; 
(2.) with the suffix th ; o.^, foulness smd filth, highness and 
height ; (3.) with the rare suffix ledge ; dus. Knowledge, Ger- 
man kenntniss ; and (4.) with the radical noun ; as, Good- 
ness and good, hotness and heat ; hardness, German hdrte ; 
mildness, German milde. 

15. These three words require a more special notice. 
(1.) Seedness, an obsolete word denoting ''seed-time," is 

probably a corruption of Anglo-Saxon soednadh, and therefore 
does not belong here. 

(2.) Wilderness (Dutch wilderniSj German wildniss), ''a 
desert," has been supposed by some to be derived froni Anglo- 
Saxon wild'deor, "wild animal;" but is probably i. q. wild- 
ness, with epenthetic syllable er. 

(3.) Witness (Anglo-Saxon witnes) is probably from the 
obsolete verb to wit. In use it denotes " testimony," " the 
person giving testimony," and is also used as a verb. 

TEUTONIC PREFIXES IN ENGLISH. 

§ 345. Derivation of words, or the formation of words 
by internal change of vowel and by suffixes, gives us differ- 
ent forms of ideas ; as, Drink (noun), drinker, drinking 
(participle), drinking (noun), drench, all forms or modifica- 
tions of the radical idea to drink. 

Composition, or the combination of two words, each ex- 
pressing a distinct idea, so as to form one word expressing 
one idea, is a development of the species from the genus, and 
gives us different species of ideas ; as. School-house, state- 
house, alms-ho2ise, all species under the general term house. 
This process is especially adapted to form substantives. 

The formation of words by prefixes, that is, by particles 
denoting not distinct ideas, but merely relations, is also a 
development of the species from the genus, and gives us dif- 
ferent species of ideas j as, Forego, outgo, overgo, under gOf 



DERIVATION. 



863 



all species under the general term to go ; and in words de- 
rived from the Latin, Attend^ contend^ intend^ pretend^ sub- 
tend., all species under the general term to tend. But this pro- 
cess is especially adapted to form verbs and verbal derivatives. 

The prefix is usually a particle denoting motion, or, ratherj 
the direction of motion. The verb also expresses motion, or 
is so conceived by the mind. Hence the prefix renders the 
meaning of the verb more specific by giving the direction of 
the motion. 

The formation of words by prefixes is an ancient process 
in language. It was extensively employed in Gothic and 
Anglo-Saxon, the ancient languages whence the Teutonic 
portion of our own tongue is derived. In the English lan- 
guage it has ceased to be an active living principle. Com- 
pound verbs of Teutonic origin, in the ordinary cases where 
the prefix retains its primary local signification, have been 
disused, and the prefix employed separately after the- verb. 
Thus we now have to give in, to give over, to give out, to 
give up, as species under the general term to give. 

The few cases in which such compound words have been 
retained in English are the following : 

1. Where the force of the prefix is entirely lost; asj^lme, 
awake. 

2. Where the meaning of the prefix is not obvious ; as^ 
Ansiver, begin, forsake, withstand, upbraid. 

3. Where the prefix has lost its local meaning, and ac- 
quired a metaphorical one ; as, Outbid, uphold, overdo, un- 
derbid, forego, bemoan, begird, becharm, forgive, forswear. 

4. Where the prefix denotes time; as. Outlive, overlive^ 
foresee. 

5. Where the prefix has an unusual physical meaning ; 
as, Overtake, overturn, withstand. 

6. Where the retraction of the accent in certain verbal 
derivatives has preserved the word from being lost ; as. Off- 
set, income, outcast, upstart, downfall, overfall, undershot, 
fore-named, by- gone. 

7. A few other verbs, mostly obsolescent ; as, Inbreed, in- 
fold, outbud, outbar, gainst and, gainsay. 

The difference between these compounds and the use of a 



364 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

separate particle may be illustrated by comparing inhold with 
hold in^ outrun with run out^ uphold with hold up, over- 
throw with throw over, understand with stand under, forego 
with go before, backslide with slide back, withhold with hold 
with. 

§ 346. This subject of the disuse of Teutonic suffixes I 
propose to illustrate more fully by taking up the several Teu- 
tonic particles of place in their order, and following them 
down from the Gothic and Anglo-Saxon, the ancient lan- 
guages whence the Teutonic portion of our own tongue is 
derived. 

To ; as, Gothic duginnan, to begin ; durinnan, to run to ; 
duvakan, to watch unto; Anglo-Saxon toberan, to bear to; 
tobrecan, to break in pieces ; tocuman, to come to ; tosprecan^ 
to speak to. This prefix can not be used in English before 
verbs, as it would be confounded with to, the sign of the in- 
finitive. It remains only in toward, (adj. or adv.,) with ac- 
cent retracted. 

At, another form of the particle to ; as, Gothic atbairan^ 
to bring or to offer ; atgaggan, to go to ; atrinnan, to run 
to ; Anglo-Saxon cetberan, to show ; cetspurnan, to spurn at ; 
cetsittan, to sit by. There is no compound word in English 
with this prefix. It must not be confounded with at in verbs 
of Latin origin ; as, Attain, attempt, attend ; or in words of 
French origin ; as. Attach, attack. 

Of, the opposite of to, and denoting from ; as, Gothic 
afgaggan, to go out or depart ; afietan, to put away ; 
afstandan, to depart ; Anglo-Saxon ofbeatan, to beat off ; 
ofcuman, to come forth or proceed ; ofdrifan, to drive off ; 
of sett an, to set off*. The only compounds remaining in En- 
glish are verbal derivatives with the accent drawn back, (which 
retraction of the accent has preserved the word from being 
lost) ; as. Offset, offshoot, offspring, off scouring. With off- 
set, compare set off. 

From, a more modern form than of, but with the same 
force ; as, Gothic fragiban, to forgive ; fraletan, to dismiss ; 
Anglo-Saxon fromcuman, to be rejected. No example re 
mains in English except adj. froward, (for fromward^ with 
the accent drawn back. 



DERIVATION. 335 

In ; as, Gothic insaian^ to sow in ; insaiwan, to look on ; 
Anglo-Saxon inbyran^ to bring in ; infaran^ to go in ; in- 
cwman^ to come in. In English only in doubtful or obsoles^ 
cent forms; as, Inbreathe, inbreed, inhold, infold; and in 
verbals with accent drawn back ; di^, Income, inborn, inbred. 
For the difference of meaning, compare inhold with hold in. 

On, probably another form of the particle in ; as, Gothic 
anagaggan, to come on ; anadrigkan, to drink on ; ana- 
quiman, to come upon ; Anglo-Saxon onbitan, to taste of ; 
onbrican, to break in ; ongangan, to enter in. In En- 
glish only in verbals with accent drawn back ; as. Onset, on- 
slaught. 

Out ; as, Gothic usbairan, to bring forth ; usgaggan, to 
go out; usgiban, to render; Anglo-Saxon utdragan, to diSig 
out ; utgan, to go out ; utlcetan, to let out. In English only 
where the particle has a metaphorical or unusual sense ; as, 
Outbid, outblush, outbreathe, outbuild, outburn, outdo, out- 
run; also outbar, outbud; and in some verbals with accent 
drawn back ; as, Outbound, outborn, outcast. For the dif- 
ference of meaning, compare outgo with go out ; outstand, 
to stand beyond the proper time, with to stand out, to project. 

Up ; as, Gothic ufbrikan, to reject ; ufgairdan, to gird 
up ; Anglo-Saxon upcuman, to come up ; upfaran, to go up. 
In English in some obsolescent verbs ; as. Upbear, upblow, 
updraw, upheave ; also, when the prefix has a metaphorical 
sense; as, Upbraid, uphold; and in verbals with accent drawn 
back ; as. Upstart, uprising, upright. For the difference 
of meaning, compare uphold with hold up. 

Down, in some verbs; as, Down-bear ; and more verbals; 
as, Downcast, downfall, downlooked, downtrod. 

Over ; as, Gothic ufargaggan, to go over or transgress ; 
ufarlagjan, to lay upon ; ufarsteigan, to come up ; Anglo- 
Saxon oferbrcedan, to cover over ; oferbringan, to bring over ; 
ofercliman, to climb over ; ofercuman, to overcome ; ofer- 
don, to overdo. In English only where the particle has a 
metaphorical or unusual sense ; as, Overawe, overbear, over- 
bend, overbid, overgo, overflow, overdo, oversee, overtake. 
Compare overturn with turn over, overthrow with throw 
over. 



366 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

Under ; as, Anglo-Saxon underberan^ to support ; under- 
brwdan, to underspread ; under ciiman^ to come under ; under- 
done to put under ; under gayi^ to undergo. In English where 
the particle has a metaphorical or unusual meaning ; as, JJn- 
derbear, underbid., underdo , undergo, undersell, undertake. 
Compare itnderstand with stand under. ' 

Fore ; as, Gothic fauragaggan, to go before ; fauraqui- 
man, to go before ; faurastandan, to stand by ; Anglo-Saxon 
forebeon, to be before ; forecuman, to come before-; foregaUy 
to go before. In English only where the particle refers to 
time, or has some unusual signification ; as. Forearm, fore- 
bode, forecast, foreknow, foresee, forethink, foretell, forego^ 
forenamed. 

After ; as, Gothic afargangan, to follow ; Anglo-Saxon 
ceftercwmdlian, to speak after ; cefterridan, to ride after. In 
English only in verbals with accent drawn back; Q.Sy After- 
cost, after-crop, after -piece. 

Back, a later form for after or behind ; as, Anglo-Saxon 
bcecberan, to take on the back. In English only in backbite, 
backslide, backwound. 

By and be ; as, Gothic bigitan, to find ; biquiman, to come 
upon ; birinnan, to run by ; Anglo-Saxon becivedhan, to be- 
queath ; beginnan, to begin ; begyrdan, to begird. In En- 
glish only v/here the import of the prefix is not obvious ; as, 
Behead, become ; or where the accent is drawn back ; as, 
By-gone, by-past. 

For, in the sense oi forth or away ; as, Anglo-Saxon /or- 
sendan, to send forth or away ; forgifan, to forgive ; for- 
swerian, to forswear. In English in forbid, forgive, for- 
swear. 

Gain, in the sense of against ; as, Anglo-Saxon geonberan, 
to oppose. In English in gainsay ; also, gaingive, gain- 
stand, gainsti'ive. 

With ; as, Anglo-Saxon widhlcedan, to lead away ; widh- 
lecgan, to lay o^gdcm^t) ividhgan, to go against. In English 
only in withdraw, withhold, withstand. 



DERIVATION. ^67 



THE ENGLISH PREFIX " A. ' 

§ 347. The prefix a, which occurs so often in English, has 
different origins and uses, which need to be carefully distin- 
guished. We propose to attempt a scientific classification. 

I. The Anglo-Saxon prefix a or ge, (== Gothic ga^ Old Ger- 
man ka, ki, German ge, Old Saxon gi,) originally equiva- 
lent to Latin co or con; as, German gespiele, el play-fellow; 
then attached to the past participle ; as, German geliebt, 
loved ; but finally nearly without significancy ; as, Gothic 
gabairhtjan^ to show. In the last use, that is, without ap- 
parent significancy, a is found in English, 

1. Prefixed to verbs of Teutonic origin ; as, To abet, (An- 
glo-Saxon gebetan, betan,) to abide, (Anglo-Saxon gebidan, 
abidan, bidan, also, anbidan,) to abroach, used by Chaucer, 
(Anglo-Saxon gebrecan, abrecan, brecan,) to abrook, (Anglo- 
Saxon gebrucan, brucan,) to affright, for to afright, (Anglo- 
Saxon gefrihtan, aforhtian, frihtan, forhtian,^ to agaze, to 
arise, (Anglo-Saxon arisan,yto ashame, (Anglo-Saxon ge- 
scamian, ascamian, scamian,) to aslake, (Anglo-Saxon asla- 
cian, slacian,\to awake, (Anglo-Saxon awcecan,W(Bcan ; also, 
onwcecan). ' . 

2. Prefixed, or, rather, retained before certain past partici- 
ples of Teutonic origin, to avoid cacophony ; as, Adread, (An*- 
glo-Saxon adrceden ; also, andrceden, ondrceden,^ adrift, (An- 
glo-Saxon gedrifen, adrifen, adrefed, drifen), adry, (Anglo- 
Saxon adruged,^ afloat, (Anglo-Saxon floten,\ again and 
against, (German gegen, Anglo-Saxon agean, agen, gean, 
also, angean, ongean,^ agast or aghast, ago and agone, (An- 
glo-Saxon agan, gan,^ along, owing to, (Anglo-Saxon, ge- 
lang or gelenge, owing to,) aloof, aloud, (Anglo-Saxon hlud,) 
amiss, (compare Anglo-Saxon missian,) among and amongst, 

S Anglo-Sax on gemenged,) askance, askant and asquint j 
Dutch schuins^ askeiv, (Danish skievt, awry,) aslant, (com- 
pare Swedish slinta, to slip,) aslope, (compare Anglo-Saxon 
aslupan, to slip away,) aslug, aswoon, (compare Anglo-Saxon 
aswunan, to swoon,) astray, (compare Anglo-Saxon astrehtj 
to spread,) athwart, (Swedish tvart,\ aware, (German gewahr, 
Dutch geicaar, Anglo-Saxon gewar,) aivry, (Anglo-Saxon g-e- 



368 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

loritlien, awrithen^ lorithen^ enough for anough, (German 
genug, Anglo-Saxon genog^ Old English ynow^ inouli^ 
y nought ynowgh^ enpwy 

3. Prefixed to adjectives of various origin ; as. Across, 
(compare French en croix,) aflat, afresh, afoul, ahungry, 
(Anglo-Saxon hungrig,^ akin, alate, anew, (compare French 
a neuf, de neuf, Latin de novo,) aweary, (Anglo-Saxon 
werig). 

II. The Anglo-Saxon preposition an or on, on, in : 

1. Attached to its complement or noun^ and forming ad- 
verbs ; as, Aback, (Anglo-Saxon on bcec,) abed, aboard, (Swed- 
ish om bord, French a bord,) about, (Anglo-Saxon onbutan, 
abutan, also, embutan, ymbutan,) above, (Anglo-Saxon abu^ 
fan, bufan,) abreast, abroad, (Anglo-Saxon on brcede, in 
breadth, Chaucer onbrede and a brede,") adays, (Anglo-Saxon 
on dceg, by day,) afield, afire, (German im brande, French 
en feu,) afoot, afore, aground, ahead, aheight and ahigh, 
aland, (Anglo-Saxon on lande, in the country, Chaucer on 
the lond and a londe,) alive, (Anglo-Saxon on life, R. Brunne 
o life, Gower on live, Richardson a/z/e^,) aloft, (R. Brunne 
o loft, Gov7er upon loft,) along, in length, (Anglo-Saxon 
andlang, ondlong, on lenge, in length, Chaucer on length, 
French au long,) amid, (Anglo-Saxon on middan, Chaucer 
amiddes,) anight, (Anglo-Saxon on nihte, Gower on night,) 
apace, apeak, apieces, aplace, aplight, aright, (Anglo-Saxon 
on rihte,) around, aroiv, ashore, uside, (Hall on side,) asleep, 
(Old English on slepe, on sleep,) astern, astrut, athirst, atwo, 
atwain, atween, atwixt, (Anglo-Saxon on twa,) aivater, away, 
(Anglo-Saxon anweg, onweg, aweg). 

2. Used as an adverb, and prefixed to the present partici- 
ple ; as, Adoing, agoing, asaying, awriting, etc., i. e., do- 
ing on, going on, saying on, writing on, etc. Not in the act 
of doing, etc., as usually explained. 

III. The indefinite article a or an, which has become at- 
tached to its noun ; as. Apiece, (compare French piece,) 
awhile, (compare some while, one while). 

IV. The French preposition a or Latin ad, to : 

1. In words derived from the French ; as, To abase, 
(French abaisser, i. e., mettre a bas,) to abate, (French abat' 



DERIVATION. 



369 



tre, irombattre,) adieu, (French adieu,) toamelioi'ate, (French. 
ameltorer,\ to abandon, (French a ban donner,) to achieve, 
(French achever, from a chef,) to alarm, (French alarmer^ 
from a Varme,) to amass, (French amasser,) apart, (French 
a part). 

2. In words derived from the Latin, but only before the 
consonants sc ; as, To ascend, (Latin ascendo,) to ascribe, 
(Latin ascribo). 

V. The Latin preposition a or ab, from, away, but only 
before m and v ; as. To amove, amotion, amoval ; to avert, 



aversion, avulsion. 



VI. The Latin preposition e or ex, out of, in some words 
derived from the Latin through the French ; as. To amend, 
(French amender, Latin emendo,\ to affray, whence afraid, 
(French effrayer, Latin effrico). . 

VII. The Greek a privative, in words derived from the 
Greek, but only before consonants ; as. Asylum, asymmetry, 
asymptote, asyndeton, ataraxy, ataxy, atheist, atom, atony, 
atrophy. 

VIII. The Greek a of unity, or hama, with, together with, 
radically connected with No. I. ; as, Adelphic. 

The preceding investigation shows in a strong light the 
mixed character of the English language. 



§ 348. The English prefix be, (Gothic bi, Old German bi, 
pi, Old Saxon bi, Anglo-Saxon Z?e, German be, Swedish be, 
Danish be, Dutch be,) is in its origin the same as the par- 
ticle of place by, and was primarily combined with verbs> 
in order to particularize the action contained in them, by 
specifying the place or direction. Its import has since been 
variously modified. Its present uses may be classified as fol- 
lows : 

I. Prefixed to verbs intransitive, it renders them transitive ; 
as. Bechance, " to chance by or near any one," i. e., to hap- 
pen to him ; become, " to come by or near any thing," i. e., to 
be changed into it, also to befit it ; bedabble, befall, beget, be- 
lie, bemoan, beseem, besort, bespawl, bethink, bewail, beweep. 

Note 1. Some of these verbs are used transitively without 

A A 



370 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

the prefix; as. Dabble ^ get, seem. Especially in poetry; as, 
Moan, wail. But this does not affect the correctness of our 
explanation. 

II. Prefixed to transitive verbs, it changes the direction of 
the transitive relation ; as, Bedrop, begird, " to bind with a 
girdle," behave, behold, bequeath, bereave, beseech, beset, be- 
spatter, bespeak, bespit, bespread, besprinkle, bestow, bestrew, 
betake, betray. 

Note 2. Some of these verbs are used in both senses with- 
out the prefix ; as, Gird, spatter, spread, sprinkle, strew. 
But this does not affect the correctness of our explanation. 

III. Prefixed to some transitive verbs, it does not affect 
their general import, but only gives them more emphasis ; 
which emphasis seems to lie in spreading the action of the 
verb over the whole object ; as, Becharm, bedazzle, bedaub, 
bedeck, bedrench, behead, bepraise, besiege, besmear, bespan- 
gle, bespeckle, bespice, bespot. 

Note 3. Sometimes the simple verb is not in use ; as in 
begin, behoove, believe, betray. 

IV. Prefixed to nouns, it forms transitive verbs somewhat 
analogous to the preceding. 

1. Prefixed to common nouns ; as. Becloud, " to cover with 
clouds," bedeiv, beguile, behoney, beleaguer, besnuff, betroth. 

2. Prefixed to attributives; as. Becalm, "to make calm," 
bedim, befriend, ^< to put by or with friends," bemad, besot, 
bewitch. 

Note 4. These formations, which were anciently very 
numerous, remain to the present day, particularly (1.) in par- 
ticiples; Sis, Beblubbered, bedight, beholden, beloved, bestead, 
betumbled ; (2.) in reflective verbs ; as. To behave one^s self ; 
to bemoan one^s self; to bestir one\s self ; to bethink one^s 
self; and (3.) to express derision or contempt ; as, Becurl, 
bemuffle, bepraise. 

Note 5. In all the preceding uses, the particle be has lost 
to the mental conception its original force, as denoting place; 
and has also lost its tone, and become a mere prefix. 

Note 6. "When the preposition retains its original signifi- 
cancy of place, it is then written by, and retains the tone ; as. 
By-gone, by-past, bystander. The origin of by in by-way, 
by-word, etc., is not clear. 



DERIVATION. 



371 



V. The prefix he is used in certain contractions, which are 
not proper compositions. 

1. Before certain particles or adjectives of place ; as. Be- 
neath^ (Anglo-Saxon henydan^ below^ before^ (Anglo-Saxon 
heforan,\ behind, (Anglo-Saxon hehindan^ beyond^ (Anglo- 
Saxon begeondan;^ also, but, (Anglo-Saxon butan^ about, 
(Anglo-Saxon abutan^ above, (Anglo-Saxon abufan^, 

2. Before nouns of place and other nouns ; as, Because, 
<< by the cause or reason ;" bechance, '< by chance ;" beside, 
<' by the side;" betimes, ^^hj times;" between and betwixt, 
" by the two." 



THE ENGLISH PREFIX 



§ 349. The inseparable preposition for primarily denotes 
forth or away, and is probably connected with the verb fare, 
(Anglo-Saxon far an, past for, part, far en,") to go on, forth, 
or away. It is employed, 

1. In the simple sense of removal; ^^,GQxmQXiversenden, 
Anglo-Saxon /6>r5e^(i«^7z, to send forth or away; German ver- 
treiben, Anglo-Saxon for dr if an, Old English for drive, to 
drive forth or away; German verdammen, Anglo-Saxon /or- 
deman, to deem or doom away, to condemn ; German ver- 
bieten, Anglo-Saxon forbeodan, English forbid, to bid forth 
or away, to prohibit ; Anglo-Saxon forheran, English for- 
bear, to bear forth, hold from, abstain ; Anglo-Saxon for- 
sacan, English/or^a^e, to seek away, to desert ; Old English 
for hail, to hale or drag away. 

2. With the accessory idea of disappearing ; as, German 
verrauchen, to reek away, to evaporate ; German versinken, 
to sink away, to disappear ; German verspielen, to play away, 
to lose by playing ; German vergleichen, to level away ; Ger- 
man vergeben, Anglo-Saxon forgifan, English forgive, to 
give away, or out of sight, (compare Latin remitto, French 
pardonner) ; German vergessen, Anglo-Saxon for git an, En- 
glish forget, to get, i. e., let go away, to lose from the mind ; 
German verthun, Anglo-Saxon for don. Old English fordo, 
to do away, to undo. 

3. With the accessory idea of going wrong (^= astray) ; as, 
German verleiten, Anglo-Saxon forlcedan, to lead astray ; 



372 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

English forjudge^ to judge wrongfully ; Anglo-Saxon for- 
swerian^ English forswear^ to swear falsely. 

4. With the accessory idea of entireness (=o^, out^ ut- 
terly^ ; as, Old English forbuy^ to buy off; Old English /or- 
break^ to break off; Old English forcarve, to carve off; Old 
English /orc«^^, to cut off; Old English forwear, to wear out; 
Old English forweary, to weary out ; Old English /orG?r^^?^A;- 
en, utterly drunken ; Old English for dry, utterly dry ; Old 
English forbathed, utterly bathed ; Old English forlore and 
forlorn, utterly lost. 

Besides these uses, the prefix for has sometimes the sig- 
nification of the preposition /or ; as, Forsooth; and some- 
times the import oifore; as, For lie, forward ; Old English 
forgherd, the fore yard. 

THE ENGLISH PREFIX "MIS." 

§ 850. 1. Corresponding Forms in other Languages. — ^^- 
Gothic missa ; Old German missa, missi, misse, mis ; Ger- 
man wisse, miss; Dutch mis; Icelandic mis; Swedish 
miss; Danish mis; Anglo-Saxon mis; Scotch mys, mis. 
Compare Low Latin mis ; Proven9al mens, nies ; Italian mis ; 
Spanish and Portuguese menos ; French mes, me. This pre- 
fix is common to the Teutonic and Latin languages, but de- 
rived by us from the Teutonic. 

2. Origin. — This prefix is connected on the one side with 
Old German missan, GrGxraoxi and Dutch missen, Icelandic 
missa, Swedish mista, Danish miste, Anglo-Saxon missian, 
English to miss, to be wanting, to err, to fail ; and on the 
other side with Greek fiivvOc^, Latin minuo, to lessen. 

3. Signification. — (1.) This prefix usually signifies amiss, 
wrong ; whether in a physical sense ; as. Misshape, to shape 
ill; in an intellectual sense ; g.^, Mistake, to take wrong; or 
in a moral sense ; as, Misdo, to do wrong. 

(2.) It sometimes gives to a word the directly opposite 
sense, and is then equivalent to the prefix un or dis ; as, 
Gothic missaleiks, unlike, different ; German misstrauen, to 
distrust ; Anglo-Saxon misivurdhian, to dishonor ; French 
meconnaitre, to forget ; English misaffect, to dislike ; misat- 
tend, to neglect ; misbecome, to be unbecoming ; misbeseem, 



DERIVATION. 373 

to be unfitting ; miscreant, unbelieving ; misintelligence, dis- 
agreement ; mislike, to dislike ; misrule, disorder ; misseem, 
to be unbecoming ; mistrust, to distrust. 

(3.) It occurs also in the malformation misdoubt, as if to 
doubt through misbelief. 

4. Use. — The words compounded with this prefix, in re- 
spect to their origin and their relation to the English lan- 
guage, may be classified and arranged as follows : 

(1.) Words of Teutonic origin : (1.) radical verbs with the 
strong or internal inflection, and their compounds ; as, conjug. 
i. misbecome, misspeak; conjug. iii. misgive; conjug. iv. 
misshape, misunderstand, mistake ; conjug. v. miswrite ; 
conjug. vi. mischoose ; conjug. viii. misfall ; (2.) radical 
verbs with the weak or external inflection, and their com- 
pounds ; as regular : Miscall, misdeem, misbelieve, mislike, 
misseem, misbeseem, misspell, misbestow, miswed, misween ; 
contracted and irregular : Miscast, misdo, mislay, mislead, 
missay, mistell, miswend; (3.) radical verbs with the strong 
and weak inflection united in the same form ; as, Misteach, 
misthink ; (4.) substantives and adjectives whose radical 
verbs are not found with this prefix ; as, Misborn, misbegot- 
ten, misf are, miswrought ; (5.) secondary verbs with the 
weak inflection ; as, Misground, mishear, TMsname, mistime, 
mistrust, miskindle, misreckon. 

(2.) Words of Latin origin disguised or mutilated by com- 
ing through the French : (1.) radical verbs and their com- 
pounds; as, Misconceive, (\/ cap,^ misprise, (pref. m2s+pref. 
pre-{-\^ hend,") misjoin, (^V jug,y misspend, (jpief. m/^+pref. 
ex-\-V pend,^ misapply, (^\/plic,^ misemploy, {^V pUc), misim- 
prove, (^V prob,^ miscount, (pref. mz5+pref. com-{- y/put,) mis- 
counsel, (pref. mzs+pref. con+y/ sul,) misvouch, (V voc) ; 
(2.) substantives and adjectives whose verbal roots are not 
found with this prefix; as, Mischance, (v/ cad,") mischief, 
(Latin ca/?w^), misclaim, (v^ clam,) miscreant, (v/ cred,) mis- 
fortune, (Latin /or5,) misentry, (Latin intro,\ misallied, (\/ 
lig,) misrule, (v/ reg) ; (3.) secondary and compound verbs ; 
as, Miscarry, mischarge, misdoubt, misfashion, misgovern^ 
misjudge, misreme7nber, misdistinguish, mi strain. 

(3.) Words of Latin origin not affected by coming through 



374 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

the French : (1.) verbs formed directly from the Latin pres- 
ent ; as, conjug. iii. misinfer^ misapprehend, misascribe, mis- 
construe , misattend; conjug. i. miscite, misaffirm, misform^ 
misinform, misallege, misreport, miscompute, misrepute, mis- 
observe, misassigji ; conjug. iv., misserve ; (2.) verbs formed 
directly from the Latin supine ; as, conjug. iii. misconduct, 
misaffect, miscorrect, misdirect, misinstruct, misuse ; conjug. 
i. miser eate, mistranslate ; (Z.\ substantives and adjectives 
whose verbal roots are not found with this prefix ; as. Mis- 
acceptation, ( \/ cap,") misintelligence, ( v/ leg,^ misdisposition, 
(^V pon,^ misdesert, y^ serve,) misadventure, (\/ ven,y misad- 
vised, (^V vis, '^ misdevotion, y-^ vov^ ; (4.) secondary and com- 
pound verbs ; as, Miscalculate, misdate, misconjecture, mis- 
estimate, misinterpret, misrepresent, misquote, misstate, mis- 
temper, misterm, mistitle, mistutor, 

(4.) Words of Greek origin; as, Mischaracterize, mis- 
zealous. 

(5.) Words of French origin; as, Misaimed, misguide, mis- 
demean. 

CLASSICAL ELEMENT. 

§ 351. The following statements on this subject are deemed 
important : 

1. The separation between Gothic or Teutonic and Classic 
words needs to be made with great discrimination. 

Thus wade and waddle are of Teutonic origin ; compare 
Anglo-Saxon wadan, German waten and watscheln. Yet 
some have derived wade from Latin vado. 

Drag is of Teutonic origin ; compare Anglo-Saxon drag- 
an, German tragen. Yet some have derived drag from 
Latin tralio. 

Long, length, and linger, are of Teutonic origin; compare 
Moeso- Gothic laggs, Anglo-Saxon lang, lengdh, German 
lang. Yet some have derived long from Latin longus. 

Meager is of Teutonic origin ; compare Anglo-Saxon 
moeger, German mager. Yet some have derived meager 
from Latin macer. The orthography meager seems to have 
been affected by the French form maigre, which, perhaps, is 
of Teutonic origin. 



DERIVATION. 37/5 

Rank and rankle are of Teutonic origin ; compare Anglo- 
Saxon ranc, German ranzig. Yet some have derived these 
words from Latin ranceo. 

The prefixes en and em are derived from Latin in and im 
through the French. Yet some have derived en and em 
from the Anglo-Saxon. 

2. The cognate roots in Latin and Teutonic, when they 
coexist in the English language, need to be noticed. 

Thus, Latin %/ vad^ whence come invade^ invader, in- 
vasive, invasion; and Anglo-Saxon V wade, whence come 
wader, wading, waddle. 

Latin %/ volv, whence come revolve, revolution, revolt, 
voluble, volume, volute, volt, valve ; and Anglo-Saxon sf 
tvealw, whence come wallow, wallower, wallowing. 

Latin s/ trail, whence come trace, track, tract, trait, at- 
tract, attrahent, attractive, attraction, attr actor, portray ; 
and Anglo-Saxon V drag, whence come drag, draw, drag- 
gle. 

This point is the more important, as, out of two hundred 
Latin roots involved in English words, more than one third 
are cognate to roots already existing in the Teutonic portion 
of Qur language. The cognation in stem-nouns is probably 
not so great. 

3. Words of Latin and words of Greek origin should be 
distinguished from each other. This separation often re- 
quires nice discrimination. Thus, aerology and aeronaut are 
from the Greek aer ; and aerial ^ndi aeriform are from the 
Latin aer. . , 

4. The cognate roots of the Latin and Greek languages, 
when they coexist in the English language, need to be no- 
ticed. Thus, Greek \/ ag, whence paragoge, and Latin •/ 
ag, whence agent; Greek s/ aph, whence apsis, and Latin 
V ap, whence apt; Greek v/ aug, whence auxesis, and Lat- 
in -/ aug, whence augment; Greek \/ klin, whence clinic, 
and Latin V din, whence incline ; Greek ^/ kri, whence 
crisis, and Latin v/ ere, whence secret ; Greek \/ gen, whence 
genesis, and Latin V gen, whence general; Greek \/ gno^ 
whence gnosis, and Latin \/ gno, whence ignorant. 

5. The corresponding forjus of Greek and Latin prefixes 



376 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

should be noticed. Thus, Greek «w = Latin in (negative); 
Greek anti = l^^im ante; Greek fl;j90 = Latin ab ; Greek 
c?2<z= Latin dis ; Greek ec = Latin e ; Greek e?z=: Latin in. 

6. The corresponding forms of Greek and Latin suffixes 
should be noticed. Thus, Greek ^co5 = Latin icus ; Greek 
on = ljdtXiii ens; Greek ^05 = Latin tus, 

7. The difterence of the union-vowel in Latin and in Greek 
compounds should be attended to. Thus, aer-\-form and 
agr-i-culture come from the Latin, and aer-o-naut and phil- 
O'Sophy from the Greek. 

8. The distinction between stem- words and derivatives 
from the same root should be noticed. Thus, toga is a stem- 
word, and tegument a derivative from Latin \/ teg. 

9. The distinction between primary derivatives and sec- 
ondary derivatives from the same root should be noticed. 
Thus, agile is a primary derivative and agility a secondary 
derivative from Latin ^/ ag. 

10. The mutilated or disguised Latin forms should be 
noted, and referred to their regular forms. Thus, boil should 
be referred to the \/ bull^ in ebullition; noy to the V noc^ in 
innocent ; cay, in decay ^ to the v' cad, in decadence. 

11. The combination of Latin and Teutonic words to make 
one family should be noticed. Thus, length from the Anglo- 
Saxon, and longitude from the Latin, are so combined ; also, 
son frdm the Anglo-Saxon, and filial from the Latin. 

12. Greek words which have come down to us from the 
Teutonic should be distinguished from others. Such words 
are priest, bishop, etc. 

13. Latin words which have come down to us through the 
Anglo-Saxon should be distinguished from others. Such words 
are ark, candle, chalice, etc. 

The best mode of exhibiting all these things to the mind 
of the pupil is still a desideratum. 

DEVELOPMENT OF THE LATIN PORTION OF OUR 
LANGUAGE. 

§ 352. The natural development of the Latin language, 
so far as the Latin portion of our tongue is concerned, has 
been nearly as follows : 



DERIVATION. - 377 

. I. Stem-verbs, or roots, originally denoting physical ac- 
tion or motion. To these, in accordance with the practice 
of European philologists, we prej&x the mathematical surd 
sign v/. s 

1. Imperfect roots, which are few in number : 

. (1.) Consisting of a vowel only ; as, sf z, '• to go.' 
(2.) Ending with a vowel; as, V s^fl^, 'to stand;' >/ ple^ 

* to fill ;' ^ ru, ' to fall down.' 

(3.) Commencing with a vowel ; as, v' ag-, ' to drive ;' 

V ed^ ' to eat ;' V od, ' to hate ;' ^/ ur^ ' to burn.' 

2. Perfect roots, which are very numerous : 

(1.) Beginning and ending with a single consonant; as, 

V rep^ ' to creep ;' V duc^ ' to lead ;' V pet, « to ask ;' v' can, 

* to sing.' 

(2.) Beginning or ending with more than one consonant ; 
as, V frag, ' to break ;' </ scrib, ' to write ;' %/ verg, * to 
bend ;' ^ mord, ' to bite ;' \/ scand, ' to mount.' 

Note. Most of the roots here concerned appear in English 
only in derivatives and compounds. Those which appear in 
English in their naked form are the following : Bib, carp, 
cede, fend, lave, merge, move, plague, probe, sculp, tend, 
tinge, urge, verge, vex. 

II. Stem-nouns, to be referred in each case to a verbal 
root, whether such root actually exists or not, including, 

1. Stem-adjectives, whether actually found in English ; as. 
Bland, brute, chaste, clear, crisp, crude, dense, dire, firm, 
grand, grave, just, large, lax, mere, mute, plain, prone, 
pure, rare, rude, sage, sane, sole, surd, vain, vast, vile ; or 
merely implied in the derivatives ; as, Brev, ^ short ;' cec^ 
« blind ;' dign, < worthy ;' fort, ' strong ;' grat, ' grateful ;' 
lat, ' broad ;' ten, ' mild ;' lent, ' slow ;' lev, ^ light ;' magn, 
< great;' mal, 'wicked;' mir, 'wonderful;' m2Y, ^mild;' moll^ 
*soft;' mund, 'pure;' nov, 'new;' parv, ' small ;' j?rav, 
'wicked; prob, 'good;' rauc, 'hoarse;' 5er, ' late ;' truc^ 
'cruel;' turp, 'base;' ver, 'true.' 

2. Stem-substantives, whether actually found in English ; 
as, ilrc, art, barb, beast, cause, class, face, fane, fraud, globe^ 
joke, mode, orb, pest, rite, sine, vase, verb ; or merely im- 
plied in the derivatives ; as, Can, ' dog ;' cib, ' food ;' civ^ 



378 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

* citizen ;' crin, ^ hair ;' crur, < thigh ;' flor, ' flower ;' hum, 

* ground ;' loc, * place ;' mor, ' manner ;' morb, ^ disease ;' 
7iav, ^ ship ;' ov, * egg ;' pil, ' hair ;' plum, ' feather ;' plumb, 

* lead ;' rug-, ^ wrinkle.' 

III. Primary derivatives, or derivatives formed from the 
root or stem by means of a single suffix. 

1. Derivative verbs with the form of the Latin supine, or, 
rather, of the Latin passive participle : 

/I.) From roots ending in a labial mute ; as. Adapt, from 

V ap; accept, from V cap; lapse, from \/ lab; corrupt, from 

V rup. 

(2.) From roots ending in a palatal mute ; as, Act, from 

V ag ; predict, from s/ die ; direct, from %/ reg ; refract, 
from y/ frag. 

(3.) From roots ending in a lingual mute ; as, Erase, from 
%/ rad ; cense, from -/ cend ; revise, from -/ vid ; confess, 
from V fat ; transgress, from s/ grad. 

(4.) From roots ending in a liquid I, m, n, or r ; as. In- 
vent, from V ven; insult, from y/ sal; discourse, from y/ cur ; 
expose, from ^/ pon ; press, from y/ prem. 

(f>\ From Latin verbs of first conjugation ; as. Inflate, 
from y/ fla ; vacate, from \f vac ; create, from s/ ere. 

(6.) From Latin verbs of second conjugation ; as, Oom- 
plete, from y/ pie. 

(7.) From Latin verbs of fourth conjugation ; as, Audit, 
from \/ aud. 

2. Derivative verbs with other suffixes : 

(1.) With the formative syllable er ; as. Fonder, from 
s/ pend. 

(2.) With diminutive suffix il; as, Cavil ; also, cantillate^ 
oscillate, scintillate, vacillate. 

(3.) With inchoative suffix esce ; as, Frondesce. 

3. Derivative adjectives : 

(1.) In aceous, from nouns ; as. Bulbaceous, from 5z^^6/ 
crustaceous, from crust ; herbaceous, from AerZ>. 

(2.) In acious, from verbs; as, Bibacious, from \/ bib ; 
capacious, from \/ co;;? ; edacious, fallacious, rapacious, tena- 
cious, vivacious, voracious. 

(3.) In al, from nouns ; as. Final, iiomfine; verbal, from 



DERIVATION. 379 

verb ; costal, crural,, dental, dotal, legal, local ; or in ial ; 
asj Cordial, labial, martial, pluvial. 

(4.) In an, from nouns ; as, Human, pagan, sylvan. 

(5.) In aneous, from nouns ; as, Cutaneous, pedaneous. 

(6.) In ar, the same as al, from nouns ; as, Lunar, solar ^ 
stellar, vulgar. 

(7.) In ent, from verbs ; as, Cadent, candent, claudent ; or 
in ant ; as. Errant, secant, vacant ; or in ient ; as. Lenient. 

(8.) In eous, from nouns; as, Aqueous, igneous, niveous, 
vitreous. 

(9.) In ible, from verbs; as, Legible, edible; or in able; 
as, Arable, curable. 

(10.) In id, from verbs; ^^, Acid, arid, algid; or from 
nouns ; as, Florid, gelid, morbid, rorid. 

(11.) In He, from verbs; as, Agile, fragile, utile; or 
from nouns ; as, Febrile, gentile, hostile, senile, servile. 

(12.) In ine ; diS, Fagine, canine, ferine, saline. 

(13.) In ose; as, Crinose, globose, verbose. f 

!14.) In ous ; as. Porous, vinous, mucous. 
15.) In t; diS, Relict; or ate ; sls. Private ; or ete ; as, 
Complete ; or ite ; as, Finite. 

(16.) In i^z2;e, from verbs ; as, Active, captive, ortive. 

4. Derivative concrete substantives : 

(1.) In acle ; as, Miracle, spiracle; or icle ; as, Vehicle^ 
pellicle. 

2.) In aster ; as. Poetaster, pilaster. 
3.) In art/ ; as, Library, granary. 
4.) In ^^Ze ; as, Granule, spherule. 
5.) In ory; as. Armory, pillory. 

6.) In tor; as. Factor, from V fac; scissor, from \/ 5C2(i; 
<xc^or, from V ag ; cessor, from cede. 
(7.) In ^f^:c; as, Rectrix. 

5. Derivative abstract substantives : 

!1.) In acy; as, Curacy, lunacy, legacy, fallacy. 
2.) In ance ; as, Chance, from ^/ cad. 
'3.) In ancy ; as, Vacancy, peccancy, pliancy, tenancy 
4.) In ewce; as, Cadence, from \/ cfl^<^. 
5.) In ewc^; as. Cadency, pendency ; agency,ixom.V ag, 
6.) In ece ; as, Jiistice, from just; malice, notice 



380 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

7.) In ity ; di^, Brevity ; crudity from crude. 
'8.) In mony ; o.^^ Alimony., testimony. 
9.) In itude ; as. Altitude ; solitude from sole. 
(10.) In Hon and sion ; as, Action, fiom. V ag ; vision, 
from V vid. 

(11.) In ture and sure ; as, Culture, scripture; fracture, 
from ■/ /rfl^g- ; rasure, from \/ ra^. 

IV. Secondary derivatives ; as, Courageous, tolerable, 
moderate, documentary, querimonious, plenteous, nationality, 

V. Words with prefixes ; as, Abrade, allude. See § 353. 

VI. Compound vfords ; as. Leopard, decemvir, privilege, 
satisfy, solstice, cisalpine, republic. See § 361. 

To these we may add, 

1. Disguised or Romanic roots ; as. Boil, cay, ceive. 

2. Words with Romanic suffixes; as, Flourish, grotesque, 
auctioneer. See § 355. 

, 3. Words with Romanic prefixes; as. Embalm, purpose, 
surtout. See § 356. 

ENGLISH PREFIXES DERIVED FROM THE LATIN. 

§ 353. 1. Ab, from, in the different forms a, ab, abs ; as, 
Avert, absolve, abstain. 

(1.) Having its original force of an adverb ; as. Absolve, to 
free from ; abrade, to scrape off ; avert, to turn away ; abuse, 
to use ill. 

(2.) As a preposition, with its complement; as. Aborigines, 
the first inhabitants of a country ; abstemious, abstaining 
from wine. 

2. Ad, to, in the different forms a, ac, ad, af, ag, al, an, 
ap, ar, as, at ; as, Ascribe, accede, adduce, affix, aggress, 
allege, annex, append, arrogate, assume, attain. 

(1.) Having its original force of an adverb ; as, Adhere, to 
stick to ; aggress, to go against. 

(2.) As a preposition, with its complement ; as, Adjust, to 
make exact. 

3. Amb, about, having its original force of an adverb ; as, 
Ambition, liter, a going about ; ambiguous, of uncertain 
meaning. 

4. Ante or anti, before : 



DERIVATION. 



381 



(1.) Having its original force of an adverb; diS^ Anteced- 
ent^ going before ; anticipate^ to act before another. 

(2.) As a preposition, with its complement ; as, Antelucan^ 
being before light. 

6. Circum, around : 

(1.) Having its original force of an adverb ; as. Circum- 
spect, to look round. 

(2.) As a preposition, with its complement ; as, Circum- 
foraneous, going about from door to door. 

6. Cis, on this side, as a preposition, with its complement; 
as, Cisalpine, on this side of the Alps. 

7. Contra, against, having its original force of an adverb; 
as, Contradict, to speak against. 

8. Cum, with, in its different forms co, col, com, con, cor ; 
as, Cohere, collude, commit, contend, corrode ; and having 
its original force of an adverb ; as. Convoke, to call together ; 
contend, to strive against. 

9. De, from : . 

(1.) Having its original force of an adverb ; as. Deduce^ 
to bring from ; deject, to cast down ; detect, to uncover. 

(2.) As a preposition, with its complement ; as, Dethrone^ 
to remove from a throne ; deprave, to make wicked. 

10. Di or dis, apart, used as an adverb; as, Distmct, to 
draw apart ; disobey, to refuse to obey. 

11. ^ or ex, out of: 

(1.) Having its original force of an adverb ; as, Eject, to 
cast out ; exscind, to cut off; exceed, to go beyond ; exclaim, 
to cry aloud. 

(2.) As a preposition, with its complement ; as, Enucleate^ 
to free from the kernel. 

12. Extra, beyond : 

(1.) Having its original force of an adverb ; as, Extrava- 
gant, liter, wandering beyond limits. 

(2.) As a preposition, with its complement ; as, Extraordi- 
nary, out of the common order. 

13. In, in, in its different forms il, im, in, ir ; as, IllU' 
mine, impose, incur, irrigate. 

(1.) Having its original force of an adverb ; as, Inject, to 
oast in ; impose, to place upon ; impend, to hang over ; de- 



382 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

noting intensity; as, Incite, to stir up ; denoting negation; 
as, Inactive. 

/2.) As a preposition, with its complement ; as. Illumine, 
to set in light ; incarcerate, to put into prison ; irradiate, to 
affect with rays. 

14. Intro, within, having its original force of an adverb ; 
as. Introduce, to bring in. 

15. Inter, between : 

(1.) Having its original force of an adverb ; as. Intervene, 
to come between ; interdict, to forbid. 

(2.y As a preposition, with its complement ; as, Internode, 
the space between two joints of a plant. 

16. Ob, against, in its different forms ob, oc, of, op ; as, 
Obtain, occur, offer, oppose; and having its original force 
of an adverb ; as, Oppose, to place against. 

17. Per, through, as an adverb ; as. Perforate, to bore 
through ; denoting negation ; as. Perfidious, faithless. 

18. Post, after : 

(1.) Having its original force of an adverb ; as, Postscript^ 
something written after. 

(2.) As a preposition, with its complement ; as, Post-me^ 
ridian, in the afternoon. 

19. Pre, before, as an adverb ; as, Prefix, to put before. 

20. Pro, before, as an adverb ; as. Provide, to look be- 
fore ; produce, to bring forth. 

21. Preter, beyond : 

(1.) Having its original force of an adverb ; as. Pretermit, 
to pass by. 

(2.) As a preposition, with its complement ; as. Preternat- 
ural, beyond what is natural. 

22. Re, back, as an adverb ; as. Revolve, to roll back. 

23. Retro, backward, as an adverb ; as, Retrocede, to go 
backward. 

24. Be, apart ; as. Secede, to go apart. 

25. Sub, under, in its different forms sub, sue, suf, sup ; 
as. Subject, succumb, suffer, suppose. 

(1.) Having its original force of an adverb ; as, Subject, 
to bring under ; denoting diminution ; as, Subacid, a little 
acid. 



DERIVATION. ggg 

(2.) As a preposition, with its complement ; as, Subterra- 
nean^ under the earth. 

26. Super, over : 

(1.) Having its original force of an adverb ; as, Superadd, 
to add over ; superscribe, to write on the outside. 

(2.) As a preposition, with its complement; as. Supercar- 
go, one placed over the cargo. 

27. Subter, under, having its original force of an adverb ; 
as, Subter fluent, flowing under; subterfuge, liter, a fleeing 
under. 

28. Trans and tra, beyond, over; as, Transpose, trajec- 
tion. 

(1.) Having its original force of an adverb ; as, Trans- 
pose, to put in another place ; transgress, to go beyond ; 
translucent, shining through ; transform, to change the form. 

(2.) As a preposition, with its complement; as, Transma- 
rine, living beyond the sea. 

29. Ultra, beyond, as a preposition, with its complement; 
as. Ultramarine, situated beyond the sea. 

THE INSEPARABLE PARTICLE "RE." 

§ 354. The force of this Latin particle is seen in the 
derivative adverb retro, back, behind, and in reque proque^ 
back and forth, whence Latin reciprocus. Its significations 
as a prefix are as follows : 

1. Back or behind; as. Remain, to stay behind ; relin- 
quish, to leave behind ; respect, to look back or behind, hence 
to keep in view ; Latin remitto, to throw back ; reject, to 
cast back or behind, hence to slight; Ijditm recalcitro, to kick 
back or behind. 

2. Back, in the contrary direction, or simply to the point 
started from ; ^s, Retain, to holdback; recede, to move back; 
return, to go back ; refluent, flowing back ; refulgent, shin- 
ing back ; resplendent, shining back ; rebound, to spring back ; 
reflect, to turn back ; recall, to call back ; retract, to draw 
back ; refute, to drive back, hence to disprove ; rebut, to drive 
back, hence to answer ; repel, to drive back. 

3. The throwing back of a covering ; as, Retection, an 
uncovering ; reply, to unfold, hence to answer. 



384 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

4. Repetition of a former action^ or going hack to a for- 
mer state ; as, Reassemble, rebuild, relax, resolve, rescind, 
rewrite. 

5. Reciprocity in reference to a preceding act ; as, Re-^ 
bellow, to bellow in return ; re-echo, to echo back ; respond, 
to promise in return, hence to answer ; remunerate, to give a 
present in return. 

6. Retribution in reference to moral desert; as, Recom- 
pense, to weigh in return, hence to reward ; render, to give 
in return ; retribute, to give in return ; reward, to give in 
return. 

7. An undoing ; as. Resign, to break or cancel the seal ; 
refel, to remove the illusion ; recant, recall, renounce. 

8. Against; as, Repugnant, fightmg against, hence op- 
posite; resist, to stand against; reluct, to struggle against. 

9. Away ; as. Remove, to move away. 

10. Aside, apart ; as, Reserve, to keep aside or apart. 

It is remarkable that Mr. Richardson, in his New English 
Dictionary, should say that '' re, in composition, means ere, 
before ; as, to react, (sc.) any thing acted before, and conse- 
quently to act again." No explanation could be wider from 
the fact. 

" ROMANIC SUFFIXES. 

Ish. 
§ 855. The English verbal suffix -ish, (Italian -isc, Span- 
ish and Portuguese -ec, French -iss,) is found in words of 
Romanic origin, and is derived from the Latin -asco, -e^co, 
-isco, -osco, but has not retained its inchoative signification. 

1. In verbs found in Latin ; as. Flourish, languish, abolish. 

2. In Romanic verbs from Latin roots ; as. Accomplish, ad- 
monish, astonish, blandish, cherish, demolish, diminish, em- 
bellish, enfamish, empoverish, establish, extinguish, famish, 
finish, minish, nourish, perish, polish, ravish, rejoice, relin- 
quish, stablish, varnish, vanquish. 

3. In Romanic verbs of uncertain origin ; as. Banish, 
brandish, burnish, furbish, furnish, garnish, lavish, tarnish, 
varnish. 



DERIVATION. 



385 



Esque. 

The Romanic suffix esque, (Italian, Spanish, and Portu- 
guese esco, Proven9al and Wallachian esc, French esque,) is 
another form for the Teutonic adjective suffix isli, (Gothic 
isks, Old German and Anglo-Saxon isc, Old Norse skr, Ger- 
man isch, Danish and Swedish isk,) and is found in a few 
words relating to art, derived from the Italian through the 
French. Examples : 

Arabesque, (Italian and Portuguese arabesco, French ara- 
besque, German arabeske,^ literally Arabic, hence something 
in the Arabic style or manner. 

Burlesque, (Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese burlesco, 
French burlesque, German burlesk,) exciting sport or derision 
by mingling things high and low. 

Grotesque, (Italian grottesco, Spanish and Portuguese g'ru- 
tesco, French grotesque, German grotesk,) like a subter- 
raneous cave, wildly formed. 

Moresque, (Italian and Spanish morisco, Portuguese mo- 
resco, French moresque,) literally Moorish, hence something 
in the Moorish style or manner. 

Picturesque, ( Italisin pittoresco, Spamsh pintoresco, French 
pitt or esque, y like a picture. 

Eer. 

The English suffix eer, (Latin arms, French aire, ier,) is 
found in some words derived from the Latin and French, and 
denotes the acting subject : as, 

Auctioneer, from Latin auctionarius. 

Bucaneer, from French boucanier. 

Charioteer, from French charretier. 

Circuit eer, from French circuit. 

Garretteer, from Low Latin garita. 

Gazetteer, from French gazetier. 

Mountaineer, from French montagne. 

Muleteer, from French muletier. 

Musketeer, from French mousquetaire. 

Mutineer, from French mutin. 

Pamphleteer, from French pamphletaire. 

Bb 



386 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

Pioneer, from French pionnier. 

Scrutineer, from French scrutin. 

Sonneteer, from French sonnetier. 

Volunteer, from Latin voluntarius, French volontaire. 

Note. — There remain engineer, from French ingenieur ; 
career, from French carrier e ; privateer, of uncertain origin ; 
chanticleer, a compound word from the French. 

ENGLISH PREFIXES DERIVED FROM THE FRENCH. 

§ 356. Besides the prefixes derived from the French which 
retain their original Latin form, there are others whose form 
is more or less disguised by passing through the French. It 
is the latter which we propose to examine with some minute- 
ness. 

L A (French «= Latin ad\, to: 

1 . Having its original force of an adverb ; as, Avail, {to be 
efficacious to or for,^ avise, (obsolete,) avouch, avow. 

2. As a preposition, with its complement : 

(1.) Forming mere adverbial phrases; as, Adieu, (from a 
Dieu, to God) ; apart, (from a part, aside) ; so Abandon, (from 
a ban donner, to give to the ban). 

(2.) With substantives, and forming verbs neuter ; as, 
Agree, (from a gre, as if to come into accordance^ ; or verbs 
active ; as. Achieve, (from a chef, as if to bring to an end^ ; 
alarm, (from a Par^ne, as if to summon to arms) ; amass, (from 
a masse, as if to collect into a mass). 

(3.) With adjectives, and forming factitive verbs ; as. 
Abase, (from a bas, as if to bring low) ; aver, (from a vrai, as 
if to make true) ; so with an infinitive termination, Amelior- 
ate, (from a meilleur, as if to reduce to a better state). 

II. A, (French a == Latin ab,) from, away, having its orig- 
inal force of an adverb ; as. Abate (to beat down) ; avenge, {to 
take vengeance from). 

III. A, (French a or e = Latin e), out of: 

1. Having its original force of an adverb ; as. Afraid, Old 
English afrayed, affrayit, (from French e^ra?/er = Latin ef- 
frico). 

2. As a preposition, with its complement; as. Amend, (from 
French awe7J(ier = Latin emendo, as if to free from faults). 



DERIVATION. 



387 



IV. Anti, (French anti = ~Lsitm ante,) before, having its 
original force of an adverb ; as, Anti-chamber, (a chamber 
or apartment before the principal apartment to which it 
leads). 

V. Avant, (French a!;<z^^ = Latin ab ante,) from before, 
having its original force of an adverb ; as, Avant-guard, (the 
advanced body of an army), 

VI. Coun^ (Old French co^^?^ = Latin con^ together, hav- 
ing its original force of an adverb ; as, Council, counsel, coun- 
tenance, country. 

VII. Counter^ (Old French countre =1^0,11X1 contra): 

1. Having its original force of an adverb, and in divers 
senses : 

(1.) Over against ; as, Counterdraw, counterfoil, counter- 
fort, counter-gage, counter-guard, counter-light, countermark, 
countermure, counter-opening, counterpart, counter-seal, coun- 
tersign, counter-stock, counterview. 

(2.) Against, in opposition ; as, Counteract, counter-attrac- 
tion, counter-current, countermand, countermine, counter-mo- 
tion, counter-movement, counter-negotiation, counter-noise, 
counter-passant, counter-plea, counter-poison, (a poison to act 
against other poisons,) counter-vote, counter- wind, counter- 
work. 

(3.) Against and equally ; as, Counterbalance, counter- 
poise, countervail, counterweigh. 

(4.) In a contrary direction, by ; as, CounterbufF, counter- 
march, counter- wheel. 

(5.) In return, reciprocally ; as, Counterchange, counter- 
paled. 

(6.) In imitation; as. Counterfeit. 

2. As a preposition, with its complement, against ; as. 
Counter-charm, counter-natural, counter-poison, (a?^ antidote 
against a poison). 

VIII. De, (French 6?e = Latin dis,) as an adverb, implying 
negation ; as, Derange, (to disorder). 

IX. En, before a labial em, (French en, before a labial em 
= Latin in, before a labial im) : 

1. Having its original force of an adverb, in ; as, Enclose, 
engrave, employ, emprise, enwrap. 



388 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

2. As a preposition, with its complement, and that in vari- 
ous significations : 

(1.) In ; as, Enambush, encage, encase, encave, encharge, 
enchase, encradle, endanger, enfetter, engulf, ensnare, entrap, 
embark, embattle, embed, embottle, embrothel, embrace, em- 
broil, empannel, empuzzle. 

(2.) On ; as. Enthrone, empale, {to put to death on a 
stake). 

(3.) With, denoting the instrument ; as, Enamor, enchain, 
encircle, enclouded, encourage, encrimson, endow, enfamish, 
enrage, envenom, embalm, embar, emblaze, embloom, emboss, 
embow, embroider, empale, (to fence with stakes,) empark, 
empassion, empoison, empower, empurple. 

(4.) Among ; as. Enable, (as if to place among the able,) 
endear, enfeeble, engross, enwiden, embase, embellish, em- 
bolden, embrave, embusy, empoverish. These verbs, when 
neuter^ are called inchoatives ; when active, factitives. 

(5.) Into, denoting condition; as. Enact, (as if to pass into 
an act,) encamp, envassal, embale, embay, empeople. 

(6.) Against; as, Empeach. 

X. En, (French ew = Latin in,) as an adverb, denoting ne- 
gation ; as. Enemy, (Latin inimicus,) enmity. 

XI. Enter or entre, (French e?zifre= Latin inte7') : 

1. Having its original force of an adverb, and signifying, 
(1.) Between, among; as, Enterplead, enterprise, enter- 
tain, entertissued, entrepot. 

(2.) Mutually ; as, Enterdeal, enterlace, enter-parlance. 

2. As a preposition, with its complement, between; as, 
Entremets. 

XII. Mai, (French mGj/ = Latin male,) as an adverb : 
(1.) Badly ; as, Maladministration, malanders, malcon- 

formation, malfeasance, malformation, malpractice, maltreat, 
malversation. 

(2.) Equivalent to dis ; as. Malapropos, malcontent, mal- 
ease. 

XIII. Outre, (French o?^ifre= Latin ultra); as. Outrage. 

XIV. Par, (French par = 'Latm per,) through, entirely; 
having its original force of an adverb ; as, Pardon, paramour, 
paramount, paravail, paravaunt. 



DERIVATION. . 339 

XV. Pur^ (French j9ar = Latin ^er,) through; as, Appur- 
tenance, purtenance. 

XVI. Pur, (French ^OMr= Latin ^7-0,) forth, out; having 
its original force of an adverb ; as. Purchase, {to pursue, pro- 
cure,^ purl, purfle or purfile, (a profile, outline,) purloin, {to 
remove far aiuay,) purparty, {a dividing out,) purpose, pur- 
port, purpresture, pursue, purvey, purview. 

XVII. 80, (French se= Latin sub,) under, during; as a 
preposition, v^ith its complement ; as. Sojourn, (to stay dur- 
ing the day). 

XVIII. Sur, (French 5Mr = Latin super) : 

1. Having its original force of an adverb, and that in vari- 
ous significations : 

(1.) Upon, over; as, Surcingle, surcoat, surprise, surround, 
survey, sur view, survise. 

(2.) Over, beyond; as. Surmount. 

is.) Beyond, in time ; as. Survive. 
4.) Beyond, in a metaphorical sense; as, Surpass. 
(5.) Over and above ; as, Suraddition, surcrew, surname, 
suroxyd, surplus, surrebut, surrejoin, survene. 

(6. J Over, in excess; as. Surcharge, surfeit, surmise, sur- 
quedry. 

(7.) Nearly redundant; as, Surcease. 

2. As a preposition, with its complement; as, Surbase, sur- 
face, surplice, surtout. 

XIX. Tres, (French tres = Latin trans,) beyond, over ; 
having its original force of an adverb ; as, Trespass, (to pass 
beyond or over). 

NATURAL DEVELOPMENT OP THE GREEK PORTION OF 
OUR LANGUAGE. 

§ 357. The Greek portion of our language may be con- 
veniently classified thus : 

(1.) Stem- verbs, or roots, with the surd sign prefixed, as 
they are not used in English ; as, \/ baph, in baptism ; \f 
graph, in graphic. 

(2.) Stem-adjectives ; as, Cal, in caligraphy. 

(3.) Stem-substantives ; as. Bomb, chord. 



390 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

(4.) Words with suffixes ; as, Lyric, nomad, gnome. See 
§ 358. 

(5.) Words with prefixes ; as, Analyze. See § 359. 
(6.) Compound words ; as, Astronomy, geography. 

GREEK SUFFIXES. 

§ 358. a, (Greek ?/,) the Greek feminine termination Lat- 
inized, retained in nouns of action imperfectly Anglicized, and 
of course having no peculiar significancy, and dropped before 
an additional suffix ; as. Hyperbola, (pref. hyper + %/ bal + sufF. 
«,) whence hyperbolic; parabola, {^x&i. para -^V bal -\-sViK 
a,) whence parabolic. 

a, (Greek a,) the Greek neuter plural termination ; as, 
Apocryph-a, hagiograph-a. 

ac, (Greek ano-^,) for ic, (Greek lko-^,^ after a preceding /, 
and forming adjectives ; as, Elegiac, (from elegy,") maniac, 
(from mania,") symposiac, (from symposium). 

ax, before another suffix simply ac, (Greek aK, whence 
nom. af, gen. aKog^) forming substantives ; as. Anthrax, (pref. 
ana + ^/ ther + suff. ax,) whence anthracite ; climax, (Vclin 
+ suff. mat+snff. ax,) whence climacter. 

ad or ade, (Greek ad, whence nom. ag, gen. adog,) forming 
concrete nouns of number ; as, Mon-ad, tri-ad, tetr-ad, hex- 
ade, hebdom-ad, dec-ade, chili-ad, myri-ad; names of nymphs ; 
€is. Dry -ad, nai-ad, ore-ad; names of poems ; as, Iliad, (from 
Ilium, proper name) ; and other concrete nouns ; as, Cycla- 
des, (proper name,) nomad, (v/^^m + sufF. ad,) sporadic, (-/ 
spar + suff. ad + suff. ic). 

al, (Greek aXo-g, aX-rj, aXa-v,) forming nouns ; as, Pet-al, 
phi-al or vi-al, (\/^' + suff. al,) sand-al, scand-al, (^^ scad 
+ suff. al). 

an, (Greek avo-g^ uv-t], avo-v,) forming gentile nouns ; as, 
Ancyran, (from Ancyra, proper name,) Sardian, (from Sar- 
dis, proper name) ; denoting the instrument; as, Bot-an-y, or^ 
gan, ( \/ erg- + suff. an^ mech-an-ic, trep-an, tympan, iv tup 
+ sufF. an) ; also forming other words ; as, Orph-an, ptis-an. 

ant, for an, (Greek avo-g,) forming gentile nouns ; as, 
Pheasant, (from Phasis, proper name). 

e mute, (Greek og, rj, ov,) simply a mutilation of the Greek 



DERIVATION. 



391 



case-ending retained in some words, and of course without 
significancy ; as, Astrolabe ^ dome^ ( -/ dem,^ ode^ ( %/ ad,) tomCj 
(^V tarn,) tone, (^V tan,) trope, (^V trap,) type, (^V tup). 

e, (Greek rj,) the Greek feminine termination in words im- 
perfectly Anglicized, and of course having no peculiar sig- 
nificancy, and dropped before another suffix ; as, Apocope, 
(pref. apo + a/ cop + sufF. e,) whence apocopate; epitome, (pref. 
epi + V tarn + sufF. e,) whence epitomize ; hyperbole, (pref. A^- 
J9er + \/ 6«/ + suff. e,) whence hyperbolic ; par ago ge, (pref. 
para + -/ ag reduplicated + sufF. e,) whence paragogic ; 
strophe, ( x/ s^r<2i/?/i + sufF. e). 

ee, (Greek aio-q, ew-g,) forming names of prosodical feet ; as, 
Trochee, (^^ trech -\- suff. ee,) spondee, (^V spend + suff. ee). 

en, for an, (Greek avo-g,) denoting the instrument ; as, 
Stephen, proper name, (from V steph). 

ene, (Greek 7]vo-g,) forming gentile nouns ; as, Abydene, 
(from Abydus, proper name,) Damascene, (from Damascus, 
proper name). 

er, (Greek 7]p, the same as rrjp,) denoting the subject ; as, 
Aerology, ether, (v/ aith + sufF. er). 

ia, or by Anglicizing y, and before another suffix simply 
i, (Greek i-a,) denoting for the most part abstract nouns ; as, 
Ambrosia, whence ambrosial ; antonomasia, aporia, parono- 
masia, pharmacopceia ; also, anthology, antonomasy,apory, 
ataxy, cosmogony, euthanasy, logomachy, monomachy, pa- 
ronomasy. 

ia, (Greek et-a,) denoting for the most part abstract nouns; 
as, Dulia, latria. 

\ ic, (Greek mo-g^ forming adjectives ; as, Aul4c, clinic, ( v' 
clin-{-suE. ic,) con-ic, graphic, ( a/ g-raj^A + sufF. ic,) logic, 
(v/ leg + sufF. ic,) typic, (v/ tup -f sufF. ic). 

id, (Greek id, whence nom. ig, gQii. L6og,) forming names of 
nymphs; as, Nereid, (fvom Nereus, proper name) ; also names 
of poems ; as, JEneid, (from jEneas, proper name,) Thebaid, 
(from Thebes, proper name). 

id, with a preceding union- vowel oid, (Greek Eid'qg,) de- 
noting similarity ; as, Conoid, (from cone,) paraboloid, (from 
parabola). 

ine, (Greek ivo-f,) forming hylonymics ; as, Cedr-ine,petr'ine. 



392 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

, isk^ (Greek ia^o-^,) forming diminutives ; as, BasiUisk. 

ite, (Greek iT?/-^",) forming gentile nouns; as, Abderite^ 
(from Abdera, proper name) ; also names of minerals ; as, 
Ophite. 

ize, before another suffix is, (Greek ^^-w,) forming verbs 
with a sort of causative sense ; as, Bapt-ize, dogmat-ize^ 
schismat-ize, systemat-ize ; or forming imitatives ; as, Grec- 
ize, Hellen-ize, Juda-ize. 

m, me, ma, before another suffix mat, (Greek [lary whence 
nom. jLia, gen. iiaroq,^ denoting passive concretes; sls, Emblem^ 
problem, diadem, anagram, scheme, theme, comma, dogma, 
drama. 

m, (Greek \io-^ ; as, Barbaris-m, baptis-m. 

mate, the same as ma ; as, ClimMe, ( \/ din + suff. mate^ 

me, (Greek firj) ; as, Gnome, ( V gno + suff. me). 

mon, (Greek /xov, whence nom. \i(^v, gen. \iovo^^ forming 
active concretes; ^'&, Gnomon, ( \/ g•?^o + suff. mon,^ ichneu- 
mon, pneu-mon-ic, Timon, proper name. 

oid, see id above. 

omenon, plur. omena, (Greek ofj^svov, plur. ofieva,) neuter 
passive participle in wprds not Anglicized ; as, Phen-omenonj 
epileg-omena, proleg-omena. 

on, (Greek ov, whence nom. wv, gen. ovrog,) the termination 
of the present active particle ; as. Dragon, ( \/ dare + suff. on,) 
li'On. 

r, (Greek po-g, po-v,) forming adjectives ; as, Acrostic, le- 
prous, macrocosm, necrology, sclerotic. 

sis, sy,se, s, (Greek cri^,) denoting action and the connected 
ideas ; as. Basis, (^V ba-\- suff. sis,) crasis, ( n/ era + suff. sis,) 
crisis, ( V cri + suff. sis,) ellipsis, (pref. en -\-\/ lip + suff. sis,) 
prolepsis, (pref. ^ro + ^/ lab + suff. sis,) phasis, ( ^/ phan + suff. 
5/5,) praxis, ( s/ prag + suff. sis\ synopsis, (pref. syn -^ ^/ op -\' 
suff. 5Z5,) thesis, (\/^/ie + suff. sis,) phthisis, (^Vphthi-\- suff. 
sis) ; also, heresy, hypocrisy, poesy ; also, base, ellipse, 
eclipse, phase ; also, parallax, syntax. 

t or te, (Greek rrji;,) denoting the subject ; as, Anachoret^ 
athlete, iconoclast, paraphrast, poet. 

t or te, (Greek ro-g, ro-v,) the termination of passive verbal 
adjectives ; as, Antidote, Christ, protoplast. 



DERIVATION. 



393 



ter^ (Greek r;yp) ; as, Cra4er, charac-ter^ climac-ter. 
tery, (Greek rrjpLov,\ denoting the instrument; as, Cau- 
tery, psal-tery. 

tor, (Greek t(j^p,) denoting the subject ; as, Rhe-tor-ic, his- 

tOT'ic. 

ue mute after g*, the same as e mute, above ; as, Dia^ 
logue, decalogue, demagogue, ptysmagogue. 

ENGLISH PREFIXES DERIVED FROM THE GREEK. 

§ 359. Many persons well acquainted with Greek fail to 
derive the full advantage of their knowledge, from not analyz- 
ing the Greek compounds found in the English language. 
To such, it is thought, the following investigation of the force 
of the Greek prefixes found in English may be of service. 
An intelligent use of words is certainly desirable for every 
educated person. Something, also, may be gained by scien- 
tific arrangement. 

These prefixes, it should be observed, although sometimes 
employed as prepositions, with their complements, are origin- 
ally and properly adverbs. 

1. Amphi or ampMs, Greek aiicpi or afi^tg, ^olic aiiirt^ 
Sanscrit api ; Latin ambi, amb, am, an; Old German umpi ; 
German um ; Anglo-Saxon ^/w^e, ymb, embe, emb ; (connected 
with Sanscrit ubhau, Greek ajLt</)a), Latin ambo, Gothic ba, 
both). 

(1.) On both sides; as, Amphibrach, short on both sides, 
a poetic foot consisting of a short, a long, and a short ; am- 
phisbcena, moving either way foremost, the name of an ani- 
mal so moving. 

(2.) About, around ; as, Greek dfKptdsG), to bind about. No 
example occurs in English. 

2. An before vowels, or a before consonants, Greek av, a 
= Sanscrit an, a; Latin in; German un ; English in and 
un ; (connected with Greek avsv, German ohne, both signify- 
ing without) ; denoting negation ; as, Anarchy, want of gov- 
ernment ; ambrosia, an imaginary food supposed to confer 
immortality ; atom, an indivisible particle ; abyss, a bottom- 
less gulf. 

3. Ana before consonants, or an before vowels, Greek 



394 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

avd, a2/ = Gothic ana^ German an^ Anglo-Saxon and English 
on^ (connected with Greek ai^co, above). 

(1.) JJp^ upward; as, Anadromous^ running up; anagoge, 
a leading of the mind upward. 

(2.) Over, about ; ^^, Anatreptic, overturning. 

(3.) Back, in a contrary direction; as, Anacamptic, re 
fleeted, turned back. 

(4.) Back, to the original state ; as. Anatomy, the dis- 
secting of an animal body into its constituent parts ; anal- 
ysis, the separation of a compound body into its constituent 
parts. 

(5.) Back, anew, again; as, Anadiplosis, the use of the 
same word at the end of one clause and the beginning of an- 
other. 

(6.) Aivay ; as, Anachoret, a hermit, recluse. 

4. Anti, Greek ai^r/ = Sanscrit ati, Latin ante, Gothic 
and and anda, Anglo-Saxon and and on, German and, ant, 
e/z^, English an, in answer. 

(1.) Before, over against ; as, Greek avrlKeiiiai, to lie over 
against. No example occurs in English. 

(2.) Against, in opposition to; as, Antipode, having the 
feet directly opposite ; antipathy, opposite feeling ; also as a 
preposition, with its complement ; as. Antiasthmatic, good 
against the asthma. 

(3.) Denoting corresponde^ice ; as. Antitype, a figure cor- 
responding to its pattern. 

(4.) Denoting alternation or reciprocity ; as, Antiphony, 
alternate or reciprocal singing; antistrophe, reciprocal con- 
version. 

(5.) Denoting exchange ; as, Antiptosis, the exchange of 
one case for another. 

5. Apo, Greek dTrd = Sanscrit apa and ava, Latin ab, 
Gothic af, German ab, Anglo-Saxon and English of. 

(1.) From, off ; as, Apocope, the cutting^ off of the last 
letter or syllable of a word ; apology, a speaking one's self 
off, a defense in words. 

S2.) Away ; as. Apostrophe^ a turning away. 
3.) Out; as, Apozem, a decoction; apologue, a saying 
out, a full narration. 



DERIVATION. 



895 



(4.) Down ; as, Apoplexy, a striking down. 
(5.) J) QXioimg privation or negation; di^, Apocalypse , an 
uncovering, revelation. 

6. Cat a, Greek aa-d. 

(1.) Down, downward ; as, Catarrh, a flowing down. 

(2.) Against, as a preposition, with its complement ; as, 
Catabaptist, one who opposes baptism. 

(3.) Upside down; as, Catastrophe, a turning upside down, 
overthrow. 

(4.) Denoting distribution, as a preposition, with its com- 
plement ; as, Catamenia, monthly courses. 

(5.) Denoting jt?er^?ers^(??^ ; as, Catachresis, wrong use. 

7. Dia, Greek dm = Latin dis, (connected with Greek dvGi^ 
Latin duo, English twoY 

(1.) In two, asunder, apart ; as, Dicer esis, the resolution 
of a diphthong, 

(2.) Through ; as. Diameter, a line drawn through the 
center. 

(3.) Thoroughly; as, Diagnostic, distinguishing, charac- 
teristic. 

(4.) Between, denoting reciprocity ; as, Dialogue, conver-^ 
sation between two or more. 

8. Dys, Greek (Jvf = Sanscrit dus, Gothic tus. 

(1.) Badly, with difficulty; as, Dyspepsy, difficulty of di- 
gestion. 

(2.) Denoting want or absence ; as, Dysorexy, want of ap- 
petite. 

9. Ec before a consonant, or ex before a vowel, Greek e«, 
£|"= Sanscrit wahis, Latin e, ex, Gothic ut, German aus, En- 
glish out. 

(1.) Oz^^; as, ^c/og-z^e, a selection; exanthema, din. QYu^giioxi, 
(2.) Away ; as, Eclipse, a failure. 

10. En, Greek ev = Latin in, German in, English in. 

il.) In, on; as. Enclitic, leaning on. 
2.) Among, as a preposition, with its complement; as. 
Endemic, among the people. 

(3.) Into ; as, Enallage, the change of one into another. 

11. Epi, Greek eTr£ = Sanscrit abhi, Gothic bi, German 
bei, English by. 



396 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

(1.) On, upon; as, Epigram, an inscription; also as a 
preposition, with its complement ; as, Epitaph, an inscription 
on a sepulcher. 

(2.) To, unto ; as. Epistle, a writing sent to a person. 

(3.) In addition to ; di^. Epilogue, a conclusion. 

12. Eu, Greek £v, signifying well; as. Euphony, agree- 
ableness of sound. 

- 13. llama or a, Greek aiia, d, d = Sanscrit sa, sarn, Goth- 
ic sama. 

(1.) Together with, as a preposition, with its complement ; 
as, Hamadryad, a wood nymph, feigned to live and die with 
its tree. 

(2.) Denoting sameness; as, Adelphic, relating to brethren, 
or those from the same womb. 

14. Hyper, Greek I'Trep = Sanscrit upari, Latin 5Mj9er, 
Gothic ufar, German uher, English over. 

(1.) Over ; o.^, Hyper aspist, one who holds a shield over 
another. 

(2.) Beyond, as a preposition, with its complement \ as, 
Hyperborean, beyond the north. 

(3.) Denoting excess; as. Hyper critic, an over-rigid critic. 

15. Hypo, Greek i'tto = Sanscrit upa, Latin sub, Gothic uf. 

(1.) Under ; as. Hypothesis, a placing under, a supposi- 
tion ; also as a preposition, with its complement ; as. Hypo- 
geum, the parts of a building under ground. 

(2.) Denoting deficiency ; as, Hyposulphurous, sulphur- 
ous, but having a less quantity of oxygen. 

16. Is, Greek elg, (connected with Greek kv,\ signifying 
into ; as, Isagogic, introductory. 

17. Meta, Greek |W£Ta= German mit, (connected with 
Sanscrit madhya, Greek jueao^, Latin medius, English mid- 
die). 

(1.) With; 8is, Metalepsis, participation, the name of a 
figure of speech. 

(2.) After, of place or time, as a preposition, with its com- 
plement ; as, Metacarpus, the part after or beyond the wrist ; 
metachronism, a placing after the time. 

(3.) Over; as. Metaphor^ a transfer ; metabasis, a transi- 
tion. 



DERIVATION. 



397 



(4.) Denoting change ; as, Metamorphosis^ a change of 
form or shape. 

(5.) Denoting transposition ; as. Met agrammatism^ a 
transposition of letters ; metathesis^ a transposition. 

18. Far a before consonants, or par before vowels, Greek 
Trapa, Trap = Sanscrit para^ Gothic fra^ English from. 

(1.) By^ along with; di^^ Parabole^ a comparison; para- 
graph^ something written near; parathesis, apposition; also 
as a preposition, with its complement; as, Paranymph^ a bride- 
inan ; parallel^ by or near each other. 

(2.) To, toward ; as. Paraclete, one that calls upon or ex- 
horts another. 

(3.) Beyond; di^, Paraphrase, an extended explanation ; 
paragoge, an addition to the end of a word ; also as a prep- 
osition, with its complement ; as, Parapherna, what is over 
and above the dower. 

(4.) Denoting error; as. Paraselene, a false moon ; para- 
dox, a false opinion. 

19. Peri, Greek rrepi = Sanscrit j^^^n, Latin per, Gothic 
fair, German ver. 

(1.) Around, about ; as. Periphery, the circumference of a 
circle ; periphrasis, circumlocution ; also as a preposition, 
with its complement ; as. Pericranium, the membrane that 
invests the skull. 

(2.) Near, as a preposition, with its complement; as, 
Perigee, point nearest the earth. 

20. Pro, Greek rrpo = Sanscrit pra, Latin j9ro, prce^ Goth-; 
io faur, German vor, English for. 

(1.) Before, in place ; as, Prostyle, a range of columns in 
front ; also as a preposition, with its complement ; as. Pro- 
polis, something before the city. 

(2.) Before, in time ; as, Prodrome, a forerunner ; prolep- 
sis, anticipation ; prophet ; prologue ; also as a preposition, 
with its complement ; as, Prochronism, the antedating of an 
event. 

(3.) Before, forth, in a metaphorical sense ; as. Problem, 
something set forth or proposed. 

21. Pros, Greek Trpd^ = Sanscrit prati. 

(1.) Unto ; as. Prosthesis, the addition of a letter or sylla- 



398 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

ble to the beginning of a word ; proselyte^ one that comes 
over to another sect or party. 

(2.) In addition to ; as, Prosenneahedral^ having nine faces 
on two adjacent parts of a crystal. 

22. Syn^ before a labial sym^ before / syl^ before _z or a 
double consonant sy, Greek gvv, ovfi, ovX, gv = Sanscrit sam, 
Latin con, Gothic ga, German and Anglo-Saxon ge. 

(1.) With, in company with; as, Symbol, that which com- 
pares with something else ; sympathy, feeling with another ; 
syzygy, conjunction. 

(2.) Together, in a mass or body; as, Synagogue, a bring- 
ing together ; synthesis, composition ; syllable, a taking to- 
gether of letters, 

THE FORMATION OF COMPOUND WORDS. 

§ 360. 1. Composition, or the formation of compound words, 
is a special mode of forming new words and developing new 
ideas. 

2. Composition, considered externally, is the combination 
of two words expressing distinct ideas, so as to form one 
word expressing one idea. The word thus formed is called 
a compound. This definition is sufficient for the merely 
practical grammarian. 

8. Composition, considered in its internal nature, is, like 
many other linguistioal processes, a development of the species 
from the genus ; that is, the name of the genus, as boat, by 
prefixing the specific difference, n.^ steam, {i. q., moved by 
steam,) now denotes the species, as steam-boat. This is the 
more philosophical definition. 

4. In reference to the mental process in composition just 
described, the compound consists of two parts, viz., the gen- 
eral, or that which denotes the genus ; and the special, or 
that which denotes the specific difference. The latter, which 
is the leading member of the composition, usually precedes, 
and has the tone or accent. 

5. The unity of the word consists in the tone or accent, 
which binds together the two parts of the composition. The 
mere orthography is an uncertain criterion, being sometimes 
entirely arbitrary. , 



DERIVATION. 399 

6. The unity of the idea consists in its referring to a 
specific thing well known as having a permanent existence. 

7. Every composition is binary, or every compound con- 
sists properly of only two members, although these may them- 
selves be compounded. Compare household- stuff, deputy- 
quarter-master- general, which must be analyzed conformably 
to this principle. The most plausible exception is Latin suo- 
vitaurus, (whence suovitaurilia,) "a swine, sheep, and bull.'* 

8. Composition is an original process in language, distinct, 
on the one hand, from derivation, that is, the formation of 
words by internal change of vowel and by suffixes, and on 
the other, from the mere syntactical combination of ideas. 

9. Composition differs essentially from the formation of 
words by internal change of vowel and by suffixes, in this, 
that derivation gives us different forms of ideas ; as, Drink, 
(aoun^y drinker y drinking, (noun,) to drench, all forms or 
modifications of the radical idea to drink ; to set, to settle, 
sitter, setter, seat, sitting, (noun,) all from the radical idea 
to sit ; while composition gives us species of idea ; as. School- 
house, State-house, alms-house, all species under the general 
term house ; door-key, chest-key, watch-key, species of keys, 

10. As a mode of forming words, composition is later in 
its origin than derivation, and has arisen from the inadequacy 
of derivation to express the definite ideas which become nec- 
essary in language. Thus, mere derivation would be insuf- 
ficient to express the different kinds of keys ; as. Door-key, 
chest-key, luatch-key ; or the different kinds of glasses ; as, 
Beer-glass, wine-glass, etc. 

11. Notwithstanding which, there is some common ground 
for derivation and composition, and the two forms may al- 
ternate. In such a case the derivative is the most forcible, 
and the compound is the most precise in its import. Thus 
we have in English^ (neglecting accidental differences of 
usage,) Hunter and huntsman, speaker and spokesman, trader 
and tradesman, plower and plowman, hatter and hat-maker, 
steamer and steam-boat, bakery and bake-house, brewery and 
brew-house, patchery and patch-work, treasury and treasure- 
house, deemster and domesman ; so also where the words are 
radically distinct ; as, Fowler and bird-catcher, Hollander 



400 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

and Dutchman, journal and day-book, marine and seaman, 
navigating and sea-faring, propitiatory and mercy-seat, vint- 
age and grape- gathering, vintner and wine-seller. These 
coincidences take place only when the second part of the 
compound is a very general or indefinite term, or has become 
so by use. In this way words originally compound acquire 
much of the character of derivatives. 

12. Composition difFers, also, from the mere syntactical 
combination of ideas. Composition is a development of words 
for constant, not merely for occasional use. It is not an ar- 
bitrary process in language, or a process to be adopted at 
pleasure. A proper compound must express a specific idea 
formed for permanent use in the language. Wherever it 
takes place, there should be an adequate cause or occasion. 
Not every combination of two ideas into one is properly ex- 
pressed by a compound. Ideas combined at the moment of 
speaking or writing, for the first time, do not form compound 
words. It is owing to this principle that we have death- 
wound, not life-wound ; father-land, not son-land; fox- 
hunter, not sheep-hunter ; earthquake, not sea-quake ; brown 
bread, not fresh bread ; sea-sick, not terror-sick, because the 
latter terms of these couplets are not called fox. 

13. The difference between the compound word and the 
mere syntactical construction may be seen, 

(1.) By comparing black-bird, a species of bird, with a 
black bird ; so red-bird, black-berry, mad-house, 

(2.) By comparing /oa;-^^z7, a plant so named from resem- 
blance, with the tail of a fox ; so bear''s-ear, goaVs-beard, 
lady^s-finger, 

(3.) By comparing rafs-bane, a substance so called from 
its nature, with the bane of a rat ; so catch-fly, kingh evil, 
liver-wort. 

14. The unity of the compound is further evident by con- 
sidering, 

(1.) That in many words the members of the composition 
do not appear at first view, nor are they generally under- 
stood ; as. Biscuit, curfew, daisy, kerchief, quinsy, squirrel, 
surgeon, verdict, vinegar. 

(2.) That in many words the meaning has so altered that 



DERIVATION. 



401 



the reason of the composition is not obvious ; as, Frankin- 
cense, holiday, landlord, mildew, quicksand, quicksilver, 
pastime, privilege, Sunday, vouchsafe. 

(3.) That compounds may often be expressed by simple 
words, either in the same or another language ; as. Brim- 
stone, sulphur ; May-bug, a chaffer ; wine-glass, a tumbler ; 
sheep-fold, Latin ovile ; vine-yard, Latin vinea ; foot-man^ 
Latin pedes ; oak-grove, Latin quercetum ; dove-house, 
Latin columbarium. 

COMPOUND WORDS IN ENGLISH. 

§ 361. Compound words in English, as distinguished from 
derivatives, have received comparatively but little attention ; 
yet, from the great variety of the component parts, and the 
different relations in which they stand to each other, it is evi- 
dent that these words deserve a more minute investigation. 

Composition is the union of two independent words in or- 
der to form one. This union may be more or less complete. 

I. Imperfect Composition. 

When the two words denote distinct attributes of one and 
the same object, and their syntactical connection may be ex- 
pressed by the simple conjunction and, the composition is 
then incomplete or imperfect. Of this nature are, 

1. The union of two common names; as, God-man, God 
and man ; (compare Greek SedvdpcoTiOg ; German fiirst-bischof,^ 
prince and bishop ; butter-brot, bread and butter ; mann-weib, 
man and woman). 

2. The union of two proper names ; as. Hermaphrodite, 
Hermes and Aphrodite, i. e., male and female. 

3. The union of two adjectives; 3.^, Deaf-mute, deaf and 
mute, (compare German taub-stumm, French sourd-muet); 
first-last, first and last, (used by Young). 

4. The union of two numerals ; as. Fourteen, four and ten ; 
(compare Latin quatuordecim). 

5. The union of two synonymous or nearly synonymous 
words ; as, Hap-hazard, hap and hazard ; (compare German 
ehrfurcht, honor and fear). 

Words of Teutonic origin, of this class, divide the accent 

Cc 



402 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

or tone between the two parts of the compound ; as, God-man ; 
those of Latin origin follow the analogy of English words ; 
as, Hermaphrodite. 

That the two words are united in one, is evident from the 
fact that the latter part only of the compound is capable of 
change by inflection or derivation ; as, gen. God-man) s^ plur. 
deaf-mutes^ derivative ordinal /owr^eew^A, etc. 

II. Perfect Composition. 

When the two words form one complex idea, then the com- 
position is complete or perfect. Of this there are two kinds : 

1. When the two parts of the compound are in apposition 
or concord with each other. Here may be included, 

(1.) The union of two common names; as, Brigadier -gen- 
eral^ knight-marshal^ foe-man. 

(2.) The union of the species and genus ; as. Oak-tree. 

(3.) The union of a proper name and the genus; di^, James 
River. 

(4.) The union of two proper names ; as, Samuel Johnson. 

2. When one part of the compound stands in rection, or 
government, in reference to the other, the latter part of the 
composition expressing the principal or generic idea, and the 
former part some modification thereof; as, Snow-ivhite, steam- 
boat. 

The modifications to be expressed by the former part of 
the composition are very numerous, and may conveniently be 
arranged as cases are in our most scientific grammars : 

(1.) Where the first term expresses the nominative case, or 
the relation of the subject ; as. Cock-crowing, the time at 
which the cocks crow ; democracy, a community in which 
the people rule ; slave-born, (compare Anglo-Saxon theow- 
boren,) born a slave. 

(2|.) Where the first term expresses the dative case, or the 
case of participation ; as, Head-band, sl band for the head ; 
tea-cup, a cup for tea ; fire-brick, a brick that will endure 
the fire ; fire-proof, secure against fire. 

(3.) Where the first term expresses the accusative case, or 
the relation of the object; as, Shoe-maker, one that makes 
shoes ; wine-bibber, one that drinks much wdne ; pedagoguey 



DERIVATION. 403 

a teacher of children; time-keeper^ a machine that keeps 
time. 

(4.) Where the first term expresses the modal case, or the 
relation of the mode or manner ; as, Stone-blind^ blind as a 
stone ; snow-white-^ white like snow ; snow-whiteness, white- 
ness like snow ; brand-new^ new like a brand. 

(5.) Where the first term expresses the ablative case, or 
the relation of the place whence ; as, Land-breeze^ a breeze 
from the land ; straw bed, a bed made of straw ; blood- guilty ^ 
guilty from blood or bloodshed ; blood- guiltiness, guiltiness 
from bloodshed ; centrifugal, flying from the center ; toll- 
free, free from toll ; careless, loose or free from care. 

(6.) Where the first term expresses the locative case, or 
the relation of the place where ; as. Land-force, a force serv- 
ing on land ; homespun, spun at home ; night-dew, dew that 
falls by night ; noctivagant, wandering in the night ; woe- 
begone, lost in woe. 

(7.) Where the first term expresses the terminal case, or 
the relation of the terminus ad quem ; as. Ground-bait, bait 
for fish which sinks to the bottom ; home-speaking, forcible 
and efficacious speaking ; heaven-directed, directed toward 
heaven ; centripetal, falling to the center ; ten-foot-pole, a 
pole ten feet in length ; penny magazine, a magazine cost- 
ing a penny. 

(8.) Where the first term expresses the instrumental case, 
or the relation of the place by or through which ; as, Way- 
passenger, a passenger by the way ; way-laid, watched by 
the way ; steam-boat, a boat moving by steam ; wind-mill, 
a mill turned by the wind ; manuscript, a book or paper 
written by the hand ; moth-eaten, eaten by moths ; careful, 
full of care. 

The same compound may sometimes belong to two classes ; 
as. Horse-boat, a boat for conveying horses, see No. (2.) ; 
also, a boat moved by horses, see No. (8.) 

The first word has the form of the genitive case : 

(1.) In some names of plants ; as. Beards-ear, beards- 
foot, beards-wort, cafs-foot, cafs-head, goafs-beard, goafs- 
rue, goafs-thorn, hound'' s-tongue, lady^s-bower, lady^s-comb, 
lady^ s-cushion, lady^s-finger, lady^s-mantle, lady^s-seal, lady^s- 



404 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

slipper, lady'S'hraces, Turkh-cap, TurW s-head, Turkh-tur-. 
ban, etc. 

(2.) In some names of minerals ; as, GaVs-eye, rafs-bane. 

(3.] In some nautical terms ; as, Cafs-paw. 

(4.) In some miscellaneous examples ; as, Day^s-man, 
king' s-evil, kinsfolk, kinsman, kinswoman, spokesman, states- 
man, stateswoman. 

Sometimes these compounds contain the remains of ancient 
cases : (1-) of the genitive ; as, Aqueduct, from Latin aquce 
ductus, a conveyance of water ; (2.) of the dative ; as, Deo- 
dand, from Latin Deo dandum, a thing forfeited to God ; 
(3.) of the ablative ; as, Vicegerent , from. Latin vice gerens, 
acting by substitution ; manumission, from Latin manu mis- 
sio, a setting free ; locomotive, from Latin loco motivus, 
changing its place; (4.) of the locative; q.s. Nightingale, 
from Teutonic nachtigall, a bird that sings in the night ; 
(5.) of the genitive plural ; as, Triumvir, from Latin trium 
mV, a man of three. 

As the first part of the compound modifies the second, it 
is easy to distinguish between bean-pole, a pole for beans, 
and pole-bean, a bean that grows around poles ; work-house, 
a house for work, and house-work, work done in a house ; 
freight-ship, a ship for freight, and ship-freight, the freight 
carried by a ship ; flower-garden, a garden for flowers, and 
gar den- flower, a flower growing in a garden ; book-shop, a 
shop for books, and shop-book, an account-book ; mankind, the 
kind or race of man, and kinman, a man of the same race or 
family ; chestnut-horse, a horse of the color of a chestnut, 
and horse-chestnut, a large nut; compare Anglo-Saxon theow- 
weorc, slave-work, and weorc-theow, work-slave. 

Sometimes, when the two terms are in apposition, the parts 
of the compound may be inverted without an essential change 
in the meaning ; as. Servant-woman and woman-servant ; 
English hornpipe and Welsh pibcorn ; Anglo-Saxon beot- 
word and word-beot ; German raub-mord and mord-raub ; 
sturm-wind and wind-sturm. \ 

III. Inverted Composition. 
There is a class of compound words deserving some atten- 



DERIVATION. 



405 



tion, in which the order of the terms is inverted ; as, Break- 
fast J (compare AngloSojion fcBstenbryce, fast-breach, with 
the parts of the compound in the natural order) ; break-prom- 
ise, (an obsolete word, for which we now use promise-break- 
er\ ; break-stone, (obsolete, now stone-break, compare Latin 
saxifrag'um) ; pick-tooth, (or, more commonly, tooth-pick or 
tooth-pickery This class includes, 

1. "Words peculiar to the English language : 

(1.) Trivial names in botany and zoology; as, Break-stone, 
(obsolete,) catch-fly, cut-water, turn-stone, wagtail. 

(2.) Marine terms; as. Break-water, cut-water. 

(3.) Terms used by printers ; as. Catch-word. 

(4.) Words of reproach ; as. Break-promise, (obsolete,) 
break-vow, (obsolete,) catch-poll, cut-purse, cut-throat, hang- 
dog, (obsolete,) kill-buck, (obsolQiQ,^ kill-coiv, (obsolete, )j92cA:- 
lock, pick-fault, (obsolete,) pickpocket, pickpurse, pick-quar- 
rel, (obsolete,) pickthank, scape- gallows, scapethrift, (obso- 
lete,) scare-crow, smellfeast, spendthrift, telltale, turn-coat, 
turnspit, toss-pot, want-wit. 

(5.) Miscellaneous words ; as, Breakfast, (probably used at 
first to denote a trivial meal,) catch-penny, pick-tooth. 

It is easily seen that there is one character pervading this 
sort of words. 

: 2. Words derived from the French which are more digni- 
fied ; as, Pastime, port-crayon, port-folio, port-glave, port- 
manteau, wardrobe ; also, hotchpot. 

DISGUISED ENGLISH COMPOUNDS. 

§ 362. Compounds in English, as in other languages, are 
usually formed on regular principles. Some few of them, 
however, especially those derived from foreign languages and 
coming into extensive use, are so corrupted or disguised as 
greatly to obscure their composition. 

I. Words of Teutonic Origin. 

1. Atone, literally to be, or cause to be, at one, compound- 
ed of at and one. Compare Latin aduno, to unite. 

This origin of the word atone is obscured only in the pro- 
nunciation. The numeral has the same sound as in the de- 
rivative only. 



406 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

This explanation of the word atone is confirmed histori- 
cally by extracts like the following from the old writers : 

" If gentilmen, or other of that contree, 
Were wroth, she wolde bringen hem at on, 
So wise and ripe wordes hadde she." — Chaucer. 

" But also [it is required] that thou be fervent and dili- 
gent to make peace and to go betwene, where thou knowest or 
hearest malice and envie to be, or seest hate or strife to arise 
between person and person, and that thou leave nothing un- 
sought to set them at oneP — -Tyndale. 

'' And lyke as he made the Jewes and the gentiles at one 
he4wene themselyes, even so he made them both at one with 
God, that there should be nothing to breake the atonement, 
but. that the thinges in heaven and the thynges in earth 
shoulde be joyned together, as it were, into one body." — Udal. 

, "Ye witlesse gallants, I beshrew your hearts 

That set such discord 'twixt agreeing parts, 
Which never can be set at onement more 
Until the maw's wide mouth be stopt with store." 

Bishop Hall. 

*' The Hebrew kaphar signifies to appease, to pacify, to 
reconcile a person offended, to atone or make him at one 
again with the offender." — Bishop Beveridge. 

2. Daisy, (Anglo-Saxon dceges eage, day's eye, compound- 
ed of dceges, day's, and eage, eye,) the name of a spring flower, 
as if the eye of the day. 

3. Not, (Old German m'oz^zViif, compounded of ne and 
awiht ; Anglo-Saxon naivht, compounded of 7ie and awht,) 
a particle expressing negation, denial, or refusal ; the same 
word as naught or nought, compounded of ne, not, and aught,' 
any thing. 

II. Words of Latin Origin. 

1. Proctor, (French procureur, Portuguese and Spanish 
procurador, Italian procuratore, Latin procurator,^ literally, 
one who takes care of any thing for another ; the same word 
as procurator, compounded of pro, for, and curator, one who 
has the care of any thing. 

2. Provost, (Anglo-Saxon prafast, prafost, profast, pro- 



DERIVATION. 407 

fost^ proivast ; Dutch prevoost^ provoost^ proost ; German 
profoss^ provoss^ probst^ propst ; Danish propos-, provst ; 
Swedish profoss^ prost ; Icelandic profastr ; also, French 
prevot ; Portuguese and Spanish preboste^ preposito ; Italian 
proposto, prevosto ; Latin prcepositus^ compounded of prce^ 
before, and positus^ placed,) literally, one set before or over 
any thing. 

Note. This word, although of Latin origin, is evidently 
derived to us from the Anglo-Saxon. 

3. Proxy <) (French procuration, Portuguese procuracao, 
Sipamsh procuracion, Italigui procurazione, LiSitinprocuratio,) 
literally, the taking care of any thing for another ; the same 
word as procuracy, compounded of pro, for, and curacy, the 
taking care of any thing. 

4. Saragossa, (French Saragosse, Portuguese and Spanish 
Saragossa, Latin Ccesaraugusta, so named from Caesar Au- 
gustus,) a city in Aragon, Spain. 

5. Verdict, (Norman-French vereduist, Law Latin veredic- 
turn, as livere dictum, truly said,) the answer of a jury given 
to court. 

III. Words of French Origin. 

1. Bachelor, (French bachelier, Portuguese bacharel, Span- 
ish bachiller, Italian baccelliere, Low Latin baccalaureus and 
bacularius ; also, Anglo-Saxon bachiler,^ a knight of the 
lowest order ; also one who has taken his first degree in the 
liberal arts ; also an unmarried man ; from French bas cheva- 
lier, an inferior knight, compounded of French bas, low, and 
chevalier, a knight. 

2. Biscuit, (French biscuit, Portuguese biscoito, biscouto, 
Spanish bizcocho, Italian biscotto,^ a kind of hard bread, as 
if twice baked, compounded of Latin bis, twice, and coctus, 
baked. 

3. Coil, (French cueillir, Portuguese colher, colli gir, 
Spanish colegir, Italian cogliere, Latin colligo, compounded 
of con, together, and lego, to gather,) to gather into a cir- 
cular form ; a corruption of collect, literally to gather to- 
gether. 

4. Count or compt, (French conter, compter ; Portuguese 



408 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

contar, compiitar ; Spanish contar^ computar ; Latin com- 
puto, compounded of con, together, and puto, to reckon,) a 
corruption of compute, to reckon. 

.5. Cover, (French 6'oz^z;nV, Portuguese and Spanish cubrir, 
Italian coprire, Latin cooperio, compounded of co for con, to- 
gether, and operio,) to conceal, hide. 

6. Curfew, (French couvre-feu, cover-fire, compounded of 
couvre, cover, and feu, fire,) an evening bell for raking up 
one's fire. 

7. Kerchief, (French couvre-chef, cover-head, compounded 
of couvre, cover, and chef, head,) a head-dress. 

8. Kickshaw, (French quelque chose, something, com- 
pounded of French quelque, some, and chose, thing,) some- 
thing fantastical. 

Q. Vinegar, (French vinaigre, sour vt^ine, compounded of 
vin, wine, and aigre, sour; Portuguese and Spanish i; mag-re; 
Italian vinagro,^ an acid liquor. 

IV. Words of Greek Origin. 

1. Bishop, (Anglo-Saxon hiscop and bisceop, Dutch bis- 
schop, German bischof Swedish and Danish biskop ; also, 
Old French eveque, French eveque, Portuguese bispo, Span- 
ish obispo, Italian vescovo, Latin episcopus, Greek episkopos, 
compounded of epi, upon, over, and V skep, skop, to see,) 
literally, an overseer. 

Note. This word, although of Greek origin, is evidently 
derived to us from the Anglo-Saxon. 

2. Catarrh, (French catarrhe, Portuguese, Spanish, and 
Italian catarro ; also, German katarrh, Latin catarrhus, 
Greek katarrhous, compounded of kata, down, and V rhe, to 
flow,) literally, a flowing down. 

3. Imposthume, (French aposteme, apostume, Portuguese 
and Spanish apostema, Italian apostema, impostema, Latin 
apostema, Greek apostema, compounded of apo, from, off, and 
^/ sta, to stand,) a corruption of aposteme, literally, a stand- 
ing off or separating. 

4. Megrim, (French migraine, Portuguese and Spanish 
hemicrania, Italian emicrania, emigrania, Latin hemicrani- 
um,, Greek hemikrania, compounded of hemi, half, and kra- 



DERIVATION. 499 

nion, skull,) a corruption of hemicrany, a pain affecting half 
the head. 

5. Palsy^ (French paralysie, Portuguese paralisia^ par- 
alysia, parlezia^ Spanish paralisis, perlesia, Italian para- 
lisia, Latin paralysis, Greek paralusis, compounded of pref. 
para, V lu, and sufF. sis,) a corruption of paralysis, literally, 
a relaxation. ^ 

6. Qui?tsy or squinancy, (French esquinancie, 'PoYtugnese 
esquinancia, eschinancia, esquinencia, Spanish esquinancia^ 
esquinencia, Italian squinanzia, Latin synanche, Greek suU' 
agche, compounded of sun, with, together, and ^/ agch, to 
choak,) an inflammation of the throat. 

7. Squirrel, (French ecureuil, Latin sciuriolus, diminu- 
tive from sciurus, Greek skiouros, compounded of Greek skiaf 
a shade, and oura, a tail, as if having- its tail for a shade,) 
the name of an animal. 

8. Surgeon, (Norman-French surigien, French chirur- 
gien, Portuguese surgiao, cirurgiao, Spanish cirujano, Ital- 
ian chirurgo, Latin chirurgus, Greek cheirourgos, com- 
pounded of Greek cheir, a hand, and \/ erg, to work,) a cor- 
ruption of chirurgeon, literally, a hand- worker. 

ACCIDENTAL COINCIDENCES IN THE FORMATION OP 

WORDS. 

§ 363. 1. Comate, (Lat. stem com, ^ hair,' and suffix ate,) 
hairy. 

2. Comate, (prefix co for con, and mate,) fellow-companion. 

1. Counter, (count, and sufF. er,) one that counts. 

2. Counter, (coun for con, and ter for tra,) in opposition. 

1. Divers, {dive, sufT. er, and plural termination s,) per- 
sons that dive. 

2. Divers, (Lat. pref. di for dis, V vert, and participial 
termination t,) several, sundry. 

1. Elder, (Anglo-Sax. ellarn, Germ, holder or hollunder,) 
a kind of tree. 

2. Elder, (the comparative degree of old,) older, opposed 
to younger. 

1. Flatter, (the comparative degree oi flat,) more flat. 

2. Flatter, (flat, and sufF. er,) that which makes flat. 



410 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

3. Flatter^ (French flatter ^\ to gratify. 

1. Former, (^form, and suff. er,) one that forms. 

2. Former, (Anglo-Sax. /ormc^, * early,' and er, the termin- 
ation of the comparative degree,) prior. 

1. Founder, (found, and sufF. er,) a caster. 

2. Founder, (French fondre,) to trip, fall. 

3. Founder, (^ found, and suff. er,) one that lays the basis. 

1. Fuller, (the comparative degree oi full,) more full. 

2. Fuller, [full, and suff. er,) one that fulls cloth. 

1. Guardship, (guard, and suff. ship,) the state of a guard. 
Obsolete. 

2. Guard-ship, [guard, and 5i^2j9,) a vessel of war station- 
ed in a harbor or river. , 

1. Horse-boat, (horse in dative relation, and boat,) a boat 
for carrying horses. 

2. Horse-boat, (horse in instrumental relation, and boat,) 
a boat moved by horses. 

1. Real, (Lat, stem re, < thing,' and suff. al,) relating to a 
thing. 

2. i^^aZ, (Lat. stem re, for reg*, ^ king,' and suff. «;/,) the 
name of a Spanish coin. 

1. Regale, (Lat. stem reg, ' king,' and suff. ale,) the pre- 
rogative of monarchy. 

2. Regale, (pref. re, and gale,) to refresh. 

1. Render, (rend, and suff. er,Y one that rends. 

2. Render, (French rendre,) to return. 

1. Repent, (Lat. \/ re^, and suff. e?z^,) creeping. 

2. Repent, (Lat. pref. re, and derivative Yerh penit,) to feel 
regret. 

1. Tender, (tend, and suff. er,) one that tends. 

2. Tender, (French tendre, Lat. tendere,) to offer. 
. 3. Tender, (French tendre, Lat. tener,) soft. 

1. Undated, (Lat. stem wwg?, * wave,' and suff. ated,) waved. 
' 2. Undated, (pref. ^^?^, and dated,) not having the time 
specified. 

1. Wages, (wage, and termination of third person e5,) 
ventures. 

2. Wages, (French gages,) hire, reward. 

Examples like these, with their analogies, may lead young 



DERIVATION. ^H 

minds to pay more attention to the derivation and composi- 
tion of words. 

DOUBLE FORMS IN LANGUAGE. 

§ 364. Besides the ordinary modes of forming words, name- 
ly, by gemination or reduplication ; as. Sing-song ; by in- 
ternal change of vowel ; as, Song ; by a prefix ; as, Besing, 
(in German) ; by a suffix ; as. Singer ; by composition ; as, 
Singing-master ; and by inflection ; as, Singest ; (all hav- 
ing relation to the same stem-verb, or root, sing;) there is an- 
other process for forming words, deserving of more attention 
than has usually been paid to it. 

The process alluded to is the development of double forms. 
The same identical word, that is, the same root with the 
same prefix or suffix, or other modification, sometimes ac- 
quires two forms, to which, in the course of time, different 
meanings are attached. 

This bipartition of the form of a word, or development of 
a new or second form, is sometimes of long standing, and 
sometimes of comparatively recent origin. Thus, 

1. Beam and boom are both ultimately derived from Goth, 
bagms, a tree ; the former through Anglo-Sax. beam ; and 
the latter, as a marine" term, through Dutch boom. 

2. Cadence or cadency and chance are both ultimately 
derived from Lat. cado^ to fall ; the former through Fr. ca- 
dence ; and the latter through Norman-Fr. cheaunce. This 
bipartition is common to the French and the English. 

3. Canker and cancer are both derived from Lat. cancer^ 
a crab ; the former retaining the original hard sound of Lat. 
c, and the latter adopting a soft sound. 

4. Cant and chant are both derived from Lat. canto^ to 
sing. This bipartition exists onlydn modern English. 

5. Capital or chapiter and chapter are both derived from 
Lat. capitellum or capitulum^ a diminutive from caputs the 
head. The two forms originated in ancient Latin, but the 
difference of meaning in subsequent times. 

6. Chart and card are both derived from Lat. charta^ 
paper. The distinction exists only in English. 

7. Compute and count are both derived from Lat. computo^ 



412 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

to reckon. The distinction runs through the modern Latin 
languages. 

8. Declination and declension are both from Lat. declina- 
tio, a bending down. The distinction exists only in English. 

9. Facility and faculty are both abstract nouns formed 
from the Latin adjective facilis^ easily done. This bipar- 
tition of form and meaning took place in ancient Roman 
times, and has existed more than two thousand years. 

10. Fidelity and fealty are both from Ijat. fidelit as, the 
abstract of adj. fidelis, faithful. This bipartition has arisen 
in Romance or modern Latin times. 

11. Particle and parcel are both derived from Liat. parti- 
cula, a small part. 

12. Propriety and property are both formed from Lat. 
proprietas, attribute or quality. This bipartition exists only 
in modern English. 

13. Provident and prudent are both participial adjectives 
from Lat. provideo, to look forward. The distinction has 
existed from the earliest Latin times. 

14. Ratio, ration, and reason, are all from Lat. ratio, a 
reckoning. 

15. Shell and scale both accord in Germ, schale, which has 
both meanings. 

16. Skiff and ship are both from Goth. skip. 

17. Swallow and sivill both accord in Anglo-Sax. swelgan^ 
which has both meanings. 

18. Tenth and tithe are both derivatives from Anglo- Sax. 
tyn, ten. 

19. Appraise and apprise or apprize, « to set a value in 
pursuance of authority ;' having as yet in usage the same 
meaning. 

Appraise, (pronounced appraze,^ Fr. apprecier, (comp. 
Norman-Fr. appreisours, ' appraisers,') Span, apreciar, Ital. 
apprezzare, Low Lat. apprecio, compounded of ad and preti- 
um, price, literally, « to set a value.' This appears to be the 
original and proper form. 

The other form, apprise or apprize, (both pronounced ap^ 
prize,) seems to have arisen from our referring in thought to 
Eng. price, (=Lat. pretium) ; comp. advise from advice. . 



DERIVATION. 4J^3 

20. Assay ^ ' to test the purity of metals,' and essay ^ ' to 
try or endeavor,' both from Norman-Fr. essoyer, Fr. essay er^ 
Portug. ensaiar, Span, ensayar, Ital. assaggiare. 

Assay is the more ancient form, as appears from the Ital. 
assaggiare^ and predominated in Old English. The more 
modern form essay has prevailed altogether in French, but 
only partially in English. 

21. Procurator amd proctor. 

Procurator, Fr. procureur, Portug. and Span, procurador, 
Ital. procuratore, Lat. procurator, liter. ' one who takes care 
of any thing for another,' compounded of pro and curator, was 
much used by the old English writers. 

Proctor is an abridged form of procurator, but used al- 
ready in the 16th century. 

22. Procuracy and proxy. ' _ - 
Procuracy, liter. ' the taking care of any thing for anoth- 
er,' compounded of pro and curacy, was much used by the old 
English writers. 

Proxy is an abridged form of procuracy, but used already 
in the 16th century. 

23. Purpose, ' to intend,' and propose, ^ to offer for consid- 
eration,' both from Fr. proposer, Ital. proporre and proponere, 
Lat. propono, compounded of pro snidpono, ' to place before.' 

24. Recognize and reconnoiter. 

Recognize, ^ to know again,' Fr. reconnoitre, Portug. re- 
conhecer. Span, reconocer, Ital. riconoscere, Liat. recognoscere, 
compounded of re and cognosco. 

Reconnoiter, a form derived more recently from the French, 
and taken in a military sense. 

25. Tone and ton. 

Tone, Fr. ton, Portug. torn or tono. Span, tono, Ital. tuo- 
no, Lat. tonus, Gr. tonos, ' sound.' 

Ton, more recently from the French, and in the French 
sense, < fashion.' 

26. Travail, ' to toil or labor,' and travel, ' to walk or 
journey,' both from Fr. travailler, Ital. travagliare. Span. 
trabajar. 

Travail is the older form, and predominated in Old English ; 
but the two forms are now clearly distinguished in usage. 



414 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 



ILLUSIVE ETYMOLOGIES. 

§ 365. Foreign words, when received into any tongue, 
often present a new and plausible, although false and un- 
founded, etymology. This takes place sometimes without 
any violence to the word itself, but more frequently from 
some change or corruption in the pronunciation or orthogra- 
phy. The word appears, as it were, new coined. This at- 
traction or assimilation is perfectly natural; as, on the ojie 
hand, it avoids uncouth, barbarous sounds, which are offensive 
to the ear ; and, on the other, it helps the memory, by asso- 
ciating the word with some other already known. As this is a 
subject of some importance to the philologist, we propose to 
give examples from both ancient and modern languages. 

1. Caption J m the sense oi a title ^ inscription^ appears to 
the common apprehension to be derived from Lat. caputs the 
head, as iia heading ; whereas it is derived from Lat. capio^ 
to take or comprehend, as if a summary. This use of the 
word is probably an Americanism. 

2. Cowcumber^ so written and pronounced, (conip. Anglo- 
Sax, cucumer^ from Lat. cucumer^ is associated in our minds 
with cow^ the name of the animal; whereas ou or ow'vcl En- 
glish is the regular equivalent for an Anglo-Sax. u; as, Anglo- 
Sax, cu^ Eng. cow; Anglo-Sax. /«^/, 'Etng. foul ; Anglo-Sax. 
thuy Eng. thou; Anglo-Sax. tun^ Eng. town. There is no 
sufficient reason for changing either the orthography or the 
pronunciation of this word, as written above. 

3. Cray -fish or craw -fish is so written as if compounded 
oifish; whereas it is the Old Eng. crevis, Fr. ecrevisse. 

4. Delight is so written as if compounded of the Latin 
prefix de and the English noun light ; whereas it comes from 
Fr. delice^ Lat. delicice. Comp. delicious^ delicate. 

5. A font or fount of types is in our conceptions con- 
founded with font or fount, from Lat. fo7is, a fountain ; 
whereas it denotes literally a casting, from Lat. fundo, to 
found or cast. 

6. The frontispiece of a book is usually conceived of as a 
piece or picture in front of a book ; whereas it denotes lit- 
erally a froTit view J from Low Lat. frontispicium, the fore- 
fi:ont of a house. 



DERIVATION. 



415 



7. Jerusalem artichoke is a corruption of girasol arti- 
choke, Comp. Fr. girasol^ Ital. girasole, literally turning 
toward the sun. 

8. July -flower is a corruption of gilly -flower, Comp. Old 
Eng. gillofre^ Scotch gerafloure, Fr. giroflee, Lat. caryo- 
phyllum^ literally nut-leaf. 

9. Loadstone appears to our minds to be connected with' 
load^ a burden ; whereas it is derived from the verb lead. 
Comp. the obsolete words loadstar^ loadsvian^ loadmanage. 

10. Madcap appears to be compounded with cap or caputs 
the head ; (comp. co,p-a-pie, from head to foot ;) whereas it 
is compounded of r/iad and cap^ having a fool's cap on. 

1 1 . Preface appears to be compounded of face ; whereas 
it is derived from Lat. prcefatio^ a speaking before. 

12. Rhyme is so written as if connected with rhythm^ Gr, 
rhuthmos^ regular flow of language ; whereas it is derived 
from Anglo-Sax. rim^ Germ, reimy having much the same 
meaning. 

13. Shamefaced^ as ii having a modest face, is probably 
a corruption for shame fast ; comp. Old Eng. shamefast in 
Chaucer and Froissart, and Anglo-Sax. sceamfmst, protected 
by shame. 

14. Shotover, the name of a hill in Oxfordshire, England, 
is a corruption of Fr. chateau vert, green castle. 

15. Sparrowgrass, as if compounded of sparrow and grass, 
is a corruption of sparage or asparagus, Lat. asparagus. 

16. Wiseacre, as if compounded of acre, is a corruption of 
Germ, weissager, a diviner, a pretender to wisdom. 

17. Belly-bound, for Fr. belle et bonne, fair and good, 
a species of apple, 

18. Bell Savage, for la belle sauvage, the wild beauty, 
the picture on the sign of an old public house in London. 

19. Bully -ruflian, a corruption by English sailors of BeU 
lerophon, the name of a French ship of war. 

20. Fulsome, to the common apprehension compounded of 
full and some, as if full to satiety, cloying ; whereas it is 
compounded of Anglo-Sax. ful, foul, and some, as if nau- 
seous, odious. 

21. Island, so written, as if compounded of Norman- Fr. 



416 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

isle\) (Lat. insula,^ and Anglo- Sax. land; whereas it is the 
same word with Anglo-Sax. ealand, Germ, eiland^ water-land, 
compounded of Anglo-Sax. ea^ water, and land. See Dr. 
Noah Webster. The orthography island would be a hybrid 
word or malformation in language. 

22. Sandy Acre, for Saint Diacre, holy deacon, a parish 
in Derbyshire. 

23. Surname, sometimes written sirname, as if the namer 
of one's sire ; whereas it is derived from Fr. surnom, addi- 
tional name. 

24. Righteous, so written, as if formed by means of the 
Latin suffix eous ; whereas the word comes from Anglo- 
Sax, rihtwis, Old Eng. rightwys, skillful or expert in 
right. 

25. Yeoman, plur. yeomen, as if compounded with man ; 
whereas the word comes from Anglo-Sax. gemcene, Germ, ge- 
mein, common, as if a commoner. 

26. Lieutenant. This word has, from the earliest times, 
been written or pronounced leftenant, supported, without 
doubt, by the idea that the second in command holds the 
left, while the first holds the right. The true derivation is 
from the French lieutenant, which signifies one holding or 
supplying the place of another. 

27. Mussulman. The plural of this word, in respectable 
writers, is often written Mussulmen, as if the English word 
man entered into its composition. The true root, however, 
is salam, an Arabic word. This error is committed also in 
German. With regard to Boschman or Bushman, (plur. 
Boschmen or Bushmen,) this objection does not lie ; for it is 
a Teutonic word made up of Dutch bosch, a wood, and 7nan. 
It is remarkable that for the words German, Norman, which 
are really made up of our word man, the plurals Germen, 
Normen are never thought of. 

28. Parchment. This word seems, at first view, to have 
the termination ment, which occurs so often in English ; but 
its true derivation is from Lat. Pergamena, scil. chart a ; 
whence Ital. pergamena. Span, pergamino, Portug. perga- 
minho, Fr. parchemin, Germ, and Dutch pergament, Eng. 
parchment. 



DERIVATION. 



417 



29. Key^ a ledge of rocks near the surface of the water. 
This word appears to be connected with the instrument of 
that name in English, but is actually derived from Span 
cayo^ a rock or sand-bank. 

So also in German, Latin, and Greek : 

Germ, armbrust^ a cross-bow, as if compounded of arm^ 
arm, and brust^ breast. The true derivation is from Middle 
Lat. arcubalista or arbalista. 

Genn. fene-grete, fenu-greek, as if formed with Grete, Mar- 
garet ; used by the German peasantry for Lat. fosnum Grce- 
cum. See Pott, Etym. Forsch. I. xxxiv. 

Germ, holzbock, an insect, as if wood-buck, from Germ. 
bock, a buck ; whereas it is connected with Eng. bug. 

Germ. Mailand, Milan, as it May-land ; whereas it is de^ 
rived from Lat. Mediolanum, Ital. Milano. 

Germ, umgewandten Napoleon, overthrown Napoleon; used 
by the German peasantry for Lat. unguentum Neapolitanum^ 
Naples ointment. See Pott, Etym. Forsch. I. xxxiv. 

Germ, meerschaum, as ii foam of the sea, from meer, sea, 
and schaum, foam, is said to be derived from a Levantine 
word, mersam, denoting a species of clay, which is its mean- 
ing in German. 

Germ, sundfiuth, as if the flood on account of sin, from 
siinde, sin, and fluth, flood, is said to be derived from sint 
vluot, in the sense of great flood. 

Germ, ratzenkahl, as if bare as a rat, is a corruption of 
Fr. radical. 

Germ, reinefiren, as if to make pure, is a corruption for 
renoviren, from Lat. renovo, to make new again. 

Low Lat. aquilce lignum, as if eagle wood ; whereas it is 
derived from Sansc. aghil. 

Lat. aurichalcum, as if composed of gold and brass, is a 
corrupt orthography for orichalcum, Gr. oreichalcos, mountain 
copper ore. 

Lat. Hibernia, as if the wintery land, which gave rise to 
an ancient report that Ireland was uninhabitable on account 
of the cold. The true derivation is supposed to be from Erin, 
western isle. 

Lat. Heliogabalus, as if the first part of the compound 



418 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

were the Gr. Helios ; whereas it is, without doubt, derived 
from Heb. Eloah, God. 

Lat. Hierusalem, as if Holy Salem^ (the first part of the 
composition being derived from Gr. Hieros) ; whereas it is 
derived from Heb. Jerushalayim, the habitation of peace. 

Lat. baccalaureus^ a bachelor, as iibacca laurea donatuSj 
crowned with the bay-berry. The true derivation is from Fr. 
bachelier, for has chevalier, an inferior knight. 

Also, Lat. bacularius, a bachelor, as if baculo donatus, 
presented with a stick or staff, either as an emblem of au- 
thority, or as a discharge. The true derivation is from Fr. 
bachelier, for bas chevalier, an inferior knight. 

Gr. Astrarche, as if ruler of the stars, the title of a god- 
dess, is a corruption of Gr. Astarte, Heb. Ashtoreth. 

Gr. sarxiphagos, as iiflesh-fiating, is a corruption of Lat. 
saxifraga, stone-breaking. 

The following examples are taken from William Holloway : 
A General Dictionary of Provincialisms, Lewes, 1839. 8 vo. 
In trod. 

1. Bag of nails, for bacchanals, the picture on the sign of 
an old public house in Pimlico. 

2. Beef-eaters, forFr. buffetiers, men stationed at the king's 
buffet, or side-board, to take care of it. 

3. Bloody Mars, for Fr. ble de Mars, March wheat, a spe- 
cies of wheat introduced into England, a few years ago, on 
account of the stiffness of its straw, which rendered it fit for 
making into plait for bonnets. 

4. Boarder of Dover Castle, for Norman-Fr. bordar, the 
name still used in public documents, of an officer who arrests 
the debtors in the Cinque-Ports, for the purpose of taking 
them to Dover Castle, where they are confined. 

5. Boneless, for Lat. Boreas, the north wind. In Kent, 
when the wind blows violently, they say, *' Boneless is at the 
door." 

6. Catch-rogue, a Norfolk corruption of Norraan-Fr. cache- 
reau, a bum-bailiff. 

7. Country -dance, for Fr. contre-danse, a dance in which 
the partners are arranged in opposition, or in opposite lines. 
It is remarkable that Girault-Duvivier, a French grammari- 



DERIVATION. 



419 



an, states vice versa that Fr. contre-danse is a corruption of 
Eng. country-dance. The true etymology, however, is evi- 
dent from the concurrence of Portug. contradanca^ Span, con- 
tradanza, and Ital. contraddanza. 

8. Goat and Compasses^ for '' God encompasses «^5," the 
motto on an old sign in the eastern part of London, in the 
time of the Puritans, having a pair of compasses. 

9. Mount Widgeon pea., for Monte Videan pea, a species of 
pea introduced into England from Monte Video. 

10. O yes ! OyesI ioxOyez! oyezl Hear ye ! hear ye ! 
the old exclamation made by the criers to call people's atten- 
tion to the notices they v^ere about to give. 

11. Pony, for Lat. pone, behind, the person who sits be- 
hind the dealer at a game of cards, whose business is to col- 
lect the cards preparatory to the next deal. 

■ 12. Scarlet likeness, for scarlet lychnis, a flower. 

13. Shallow Church, for Shadoxhurst,Q.y]]l3.gQ near Ash- 
ford, Kent. 

14. Shepherd^s Well, for Sibbald's Wold, a village near 
Dover, Kent. 

The following have been suggested by Dr. J. G. Percival : 

Oyster Hills, in Hertfordshire, Eng., corrupted from the 
Latin Colics Ostorii, so called from the Roman general, Os- 
torius, who constructed a fortified camp in that vicinity. 

Katzenelnhogen, a county and town in Hesse, Germany ; 
literally, caVs elbow, but a corruption of Cattimeliboci, the 
name of a tribe of the Catti, inhabiting Mount Melibocus. 

Altrippen, a town in Germany, on the Upper Rhine, lit- 
erally, old ribs, but a corruption of the Latin Alta Ripa, high 
bank. 

Manteuffel, man-devil, the name of a noble family in the 
north of Germany, corrupted from the French Mandeville. 

The English have singularly corrupted many of the proper 
names in India ; such as Suraja ud Doula, the celebrated 
nabob of Bengal, in Warren Hastings's time, to Sir Roger 
Bowler ; Allahabad, literally, the dwelling of God, [Allah^, 
to Isle of Bats ; Chuliul Sitoon, the name of a palace in 
Gazipoor, to Chelsea Tune. 

Similar corruptions are going on in the French and other 



420 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

foreign names in our country : such as Isle of Nore^ for Isle 
aux JVoiXj Walnut Island ; shoot, for chute, a fall or rapid ; 
backus and back-house, for the Dutch bakhuys, bake-house ; 
steelwagon and stillwagon, for the German stellwagen, etc. 

DIMINUTIVES. 

§ 366. A Diminutive (French diminutif^ is a word formed 
from another word to express a little thing of the kind. 

Diminutives have been divided into three classes, accord- 
ing to their meaning: 1. Those which express Simple Diminu- 
tion. 2. Those which express Endearment. 3. Those which 
express Contempt. They are distinguished by various term- 
inations : 

I. Those which end in kin; as, Mannikin, from man; 
lambkin, from lamb ; ladikin or lakin, from lady ; pipkin, 
from pipe ; Malkin, from Mary ; Peterkin, from Peter ; Hop- 
kin, from Hob ; Watkin, from Wat or Walter ; Wilkin, from 
Will ; Hodgkin, from Hodge. 

II. Those which end in ock; as, Bullock, from bull ; ML- 
ock, from hill ; paddock, from Anglo-Saxon pad or pada, a 
toad. 

III. Those which end in ie, and which are almost peculiar - 
to the Lowland Scotch ; as, Ladie, minnie, wifie. 

IV. Those which are formed by a change of vowel ; as, 
Kitten, from cat ; chicken, from cock. 

V. Those which end in et ; as. Lancet, trumpet, pocket, 
from the old word pock, a bag, streamlet. 

VI. Those which end in el ; as, Cockerel, pickerel, satchel. 

VII. Those which end in ling ; as. Darling, duckling, 
changeling, nursling, suckling, stripling, bantling, seedling 
In lordling, hireling, and underling, there is the idea of con- 
tempt 

"In Anglo-Saxon the termination -ing is regarded as pat- 
ronymic, just as -idr}^ is in Greek. In the translation of the 
Bible the son of Elisha is called Elising. In the Anglo- 
Saxon Chronicle occur such genealogies as the following : 
Ida wsds Eopping, Eoppa Esing, Esa Inging = ldei was 
the son of Eoppa, Eoppa of Esa, Esa of Inga. In Greek, 
"Ida 7]v 'EonnsLdrjg, "Eonna ^B-oeidTig, "Roa ^lyyeidTjg." — Latham. 



DERIVATION. 



421 



ORIGIN OF ENGLISH SURNAMES. 

§ 367. Surname, derived from the Latin supra nomen, 
through the French surnom, is a name superadded to the 
first or Christian name, to indicate the Family to which the 
individual bearing it belongs ; as, George Washington^ John 
Milton. 

In the early ages of the world a simple name was sufficient 
for each individual ; as, Adam, Moses. The first approach 
to the modern system of nomenclature is the addition of the 
name of one's sire to his own name ; as, Caleb, the son of 
Nun ; Icarus, the son of Dcedalus. Another species of sur- 
name was some significant Epithet ; as, Alfred the Great ; 
Harold Harefoot, which betokened swiftness of foot. The 
Romans regularly had three names ; as, Publius Cornelius 
Scipio. Publius, the prcenomen, corresponded to our Chris- 
tian name ; as, John ; Cornelius, the nomen, was the generic 
name or term of clanship ; Scipio, the cognomen, indicated 
the particular family to which one belonged. 

Modern nations have adopted various methods of distin- 
guishing families. The Highlanders of Scotland employed 
the sire name with Mac (son), and hence the MacDonalds 
and MacGregors, respectively the son of Donald and the son 
of Gregor. 

The Irish had the practice of prefixing oy or o, signifying 
grandson ; as, O^IIara, O^Neale. Many of the Irish use 
the word Mac as the Highlanders do. 

The Old Normans prefixed to their names the word Fitz, 
a corruption oi fits, derived from the Ltatin fllius ; as, Fitz- 
William, the son of William. 

The peasantry of Russia employ the termination -witz, 
and the Poles -sky, in the same sense ; as, Peter Paulowitz 
= Peter, the son of Paul ; James Petrosky = JaLm.es, the son 
of Peter. 

In Wales, until a late period, no surnames were used be- 
yond ap or son; as, Ap How el, ap Richard, now corrupted 
into Powel, Prichard. It was not uncommon, a century 
back, to hear of such combinations as Evan ap Griffith, ap 
David, ap Jenkin, and so on to the seventh or eighth genera- 



422 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

tion. To ridicule this species of nomenclature^ some wag 

describes cheese as being ' 

" Adam's own cousin-german by its birth : 
Ap curds, ap milk, a-p cow, ap grass, ap earth." 

The ancient Britons generally used one name only ; but 
very rarely they added another ; as, Uther Pendragon. 

The Saxons had a peculiar kind of surname, the termina- 
tion ing signifying offspring ; as, Dearing, Browing, Whit- 
ing, meaning respectively dear, dark or tuivny, white ox fair 
offspring. More commonly this termination was added to the 
father's name; as, Ceolwald Ce^^Amg- = Ceolwald, the son 
of Ciith. 

The Saxons bestowed honorable appellations on those who 
bad signalized themselves by a gallant exploit. To kill a 
wolf was to destroy a dangerous enemy, and to confer a 
benefit on society. Hence several Saxon proper names end 
in ulph or wolf ; as, Bidd^^/pA, the wolf-killer. 

The fore-names of the Anglo-Saxons are characterized by 
a beautiful simplicity ; as, Alfred., all peace ; Bede, he that 
prayeth ; Cuthbert, bright in knowledge ; Edmunds, truth- 
mouth, or the speaker of truth ; Edward, truth-keeper, a 
faithful man ; Goddard, honored of God ; Leofwin, win-love ; 
Richard, richly honored. " William was a name not given 
anciently to children, but was a title of dignity imposed upon 
men from a regard to merit. When a German had killed a 
Eoman, the golden helmet of the Roman was placed upon his 
head, and the soldier was honored with the title Gildhelm, or 
golden helmet. With the French the title was Guildhaume, 
and since Guillaume, Latin Gulielmus^'^ — Verstegan. 

In the twelfth century it was considered a mark of dis- 
grace to be without a surname. A distinguished lady is 
represented as saying, in respect to her suitor, who had but 
one name, 

" It were to me great shame, 
To have a lord withouten his twa name." 

The king, to satisfy the lady, gave him the name of Fiiz^ 
Roy. 

The practice of bearing a double set of names prevails 
amonsf the miners of Staffordshire. The best are used on 



DERIVATION. 423 

important occasions, like their Sunday clothes, while, for 
every-day purposes, the nick names are used ; as. Nosey, 
Soaker. An apothecary in the collieries, who, as a matter of 
decorum, put the real names of his patients on his books for 
ornament, put in the sobriquet for use ; as, for instance, 
Thomas Williams vulgo diet. Old Puff. 

LOCAL SURNAMES. 

Under the general term Local Surnames are included all 
such family names as were borrowed from places. These are 
divided into two classes : first, the specific, composing such 
as are derived from the proper names of places ; as, York, 
Winchester ; and, second, the generic, being all those taken 
from common names expressive of situation ; as. Wood, Hill, 
Green. 

NAMES FROM NORMANDY AND VICINITY. 

From the Great Roll of Battel Abbey, which contains 
a list of the principal commanders and companions in arms 
of William the Conqueror, we are prepared to admit the state- 
ment of Camden, that there is not a single village in Nor- 
mandy that has not surnamed some family in England. The 
French names introduced by the Conquest may generally be 
known by the prefixes De, Du, Des, De la, St. ; and by the 
suffixes Font, Ers, Fant, Beau, Age, Mont, Ard, Aux, 
Bois, Ly, Eux, Et, Val, Court, Vaux, Lay, Fort, Ot, 
Champ, and Ville, most of Vfhich are the component parts 
of the proper names of places. From Normandy : De Mor- 
timer, Devereux, St. Maure (Seymour), Tracy, Montfort, 
&c. From Bretagne : St. Aubin, Lascelles, Bluet, &c. 
From other parts of France : Boleyn, Cha worth, Beau- 
mont, Bohun, Gorges, &c. Besides the names thus intro- 
duced at the Norman Conquest, other French names have 
been introduced in the eight centuries which have since inter- 
vened. Other names have also been introduced from other 
countries ; as, Dane or Denis, from Denmark ; Gael or Gale, 
from Scotland ; Wales, Wallis, or Walsh, from Wales ; 
French, from France. 

Surnames from Counties in the British dominions ; as, 



424 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 

Kent, Essex, Dorset, &c. From Cities and Towns ; as, 
Winchester, Bedford, Buckingham, Clayton. 

Such common names as Hurst = Wood and FieldyDen and 
Wick^ and Cote, Croft, Wo7'th, Wade, Cliff, Hood, Marsh, 
&c., have furnished surnames ; or the terminations of sur- 
names ; as, Bathurst, Hartfield, Cowden, Harwood. So 
Beck, a brook ; Bank, Barnes, Barrow, a hilly place ; Bent, 
a rush ; Bois, a wood ; Bridge =Brigg's or Bridges ; Bush, 
Bottom = low ground ; Camp, Cave, Chase = a forest ; Cobb 
= a harbor; Fell = barren, stony hills; Grave, Greene, 
Heath, Hill, March = a limit or frontier ; Mead, and many 
others, have furnished surnames. In some cases the termina- 
tion ER or MAN is attached to them ; as, Towner, Weller, 
Pitman, Millman, Houseman. 

surnames derived from occupation. 

The name Smith is a well-known example belonging to 
this class. The root of this word is the Saxon smitan, to 
smite, and was originally applied to artificers in wood as well 
as to those in metal, as wheel-wrights, carpenters, masons, 
and smiters in general. Hence the frequency of the name is 
easily accounted for. Besides the Smiths, we have the Ma- 
sons, the Carpenters, the Bakers, the Butchers, the Gold- 
smiths, the Thatchers, the Coopers, the Glovers, the Sher- 
mans = Shearman, the Jenners= Joiners, the Tuckers = 
Fullers, the Barkers = Tanners, the Skinners, the Ropers. 

The termination er generally denotes some employnaent, 
and is equivalent to the word man : Harper is har^-man ; 
Salter is salt-man, and Miller, mill-man. These termina- 
tions, er and man, are often used interchangeably ; as, Cart- 
er and Cart-man. Ster is the feminine termination. Tap- 
ster is the feminine of Tapper, Brewster of Brewer, Web- 
ster of Webber (Weaver), Sangster of Sanger. 

Many surnames are derived from field sports ; as, Hunt- 
er, Fisher, Fowler, Falconer, Warrener ; and some were 
derived from military pursuits ; as, Hookman, Billman, 
Spearman, Bowman. 



DERIVATION. 



SURNAMES DERIVED FROM OFFICE. 



425 



Emperor, King, Prince, Duke, Earl, Baron, Knight, 
Squire, Gentleman, Yeoman ; Pope, Cardinal, Bishop, 
Prior, Dean, Archdeacon, Parsons, Vicar, Vickers, Priest, 
Deacon, Clerk, Clock, Chaplain, Friar, Monk, Nun, Proc- 
tor, Sexton. Besides these, the following also have lent 
their designations as the names of families : Stewart, Stew- 
ard, Constable, Marshal, Chancellor, Chamberlain, 
Sheriff, Sergeant, Mayor, Warden, Burgess, Porter, 
Champion, Beadle, Page, Reeve, Ranger, Bailey, Bailiff, 
Parker, Forester, Foster, a nourisher. -a' 

surnames derived from personal or mental 

qualities. 
3 ■ ■ ■ 

From this obvious source were derived such names as 

Black or Blackman, Brown, White, Rufus, Russell (red), 
Pink, Redman, Tawny, Whitesides, Hoare, Gray, White- 
head, Long, Short, Longfellow, Small, Strong, Swift, 
Speed, Lightfoot, Heavyside. Some are of Celtic origin ; 
as, Roy (red). Duff, Dove, Grimm (strong), Gough (red). 
Besides these there are the Hardys, the Cowards, the Marks, 
the MooDYS, the Wilds, the Sobers, the Blythes, the God- 
mans, the Wisemans, the Thankfuls, the Blunts, the Sweets, 
the Trueloves, the Doolittles, the Toogoods. 

SURNAMES DERIVED FROM CHRISTIAN NAMES. 

From Adam are derived Adams, Adamson, Addison, Ad~ 
discot. From Alexander are derived Sanders, 8anderso7i^ 
Allix, Alley. From Dennis, Dennison, Jennison. From 
Henry, Hefirison, Harry, Harris, Harrison, Hal, Halket, 
Hawes, Halse, Hawkins, Herries. From John, Johns, Jones, 
Johnson, Jonson, Jennings, Jenks, Jenkins, Jenkinson, Jack, 
Jackson, Hanson, Hankinson, Jockins. A great number 
of surnames are, in like manner, derived from Christian 
names. 



426 ETYMOLOGICAL FORMS. 



SURNAMES FROM NATURAL OBJECTS. 

From Heavenly bodies ; as, Sun, Moon, Star. From 
Quadrupeds ; as. Buck, Palfrey, Badger, Kidd, Bull, Colt, 
Puss, &c. From Birds; as, Bird, Bullfinch, Coote, Drake, 
I) AW, Finch, Jay, Parrot, Nightingale, Pigeon, &o. From 
Fishes; as, Chubb, Dolphin, Herring, Pike, Sturgeon, Fisk 
= FisH, Whiting, &o. From Vegetables ; as. Myrtle, 
Holly, Gage, Cherry, Eose, Flower, Sage, Pease, Prim^ 
rose. Lemon, Peach, Plum, Beet. From the Mineral King- 
dom ; as, Clay, Gold, Stone, Jewel, Flint, Diamond. From 
Armor ; as, Shield, Gun, Dart. 

surnames from the social relations, etc. 

Of this we have Brothers, Cousins, Husband, Child, 
Bachelor, Kinsman, Master, Lover, Guest, Prentice. So 
we have Rich, Poor, Bond, Freeman. Surnames from dif- 
ferent PARTS OF the body ; as. Head, Face, Cheek, Beard, 
Neck, Shanks. From the body of animals ; as, Maiv, Horn, 
Wing, Crowfoot. From coins ; as. Penny, Twopenny, 
Pound. From the weather ; as, Frost, Snoiv, Hail, Thun- 
der, Tempest, Mist, Dew. From sports ; as, Boivles, Ball, 
Dice, Fair, Play. From vessels ; as, Ship, Cutter, Deck, 
Helm. From paces ; as. Trot, Gallop. From measures ; 
as. Gill, Gallon, Peck. From predilections ; as, Loveday, 
Loveland. From numbers ; as. Six, Ten, Forty. From 
DISEASES ; as. Cramp, Akinside, Headache, Ague. Miscel- 
laneous, like the following : Overhead, Wig, Tomb, Coffin, 
Window, Fudge, Pop-kiss, Shake-lady, Twelve-trees, Go-to- 
hed. Drink-water, &c., &o. 

NAMES DERIVED FROM THE VIRTUES, ETC. 

Peace, Joy, Hope, Love, Patience. Sometimes a whole sen- 
tence was adapted as a name ; as. Faint-not Hewett, Make- 
peace Heaton, Kill-sin Pimple, Be-faithful Joiner, Hope-fear 
Rending, Stand-fast-on-high Stringer, Fly-debate Roberts^ 
Be-steadfast Ellyard, Be-courteous Cole, The-peace-of-God 
Knight, Fight-the-good-flght-of -faith White. 



DERIVATION. 427 



NAMES OF PLACES. 

§ 368. Ab, at the beginning of the Names of Places, is fre- 
quently derived, by a contraction, from. Abbot, and denotes that 
a Monastery was once there, or, at least, that the place belong- 
ed to some Abbey ; as, Asington = the Town belonging to 
the Abbacy. 

Ac, AK, came from the Saxon Ac or oak ; as, A.cton. a 
Town abounding in oaks, 

Ald comes from eald, ancient: as, Ai^Dborough, or Old 
Town. 

Attle, Able, came from the Saxon Ethel, signifying no- 
ble ; as ATThEboroughj or Noble Town. 

Borough, Burgh, Bury, comes from Burg, Byrig, a Town 
or City ; as, Pe^erBORouGH, the Town of St. Peter. 

Bottom, a valley or low ground, from the Anglo-Saxon 
botm. In Sussex, England, it is said that dale and valley 
are rarely used ; Bottom is substituted. Hence the names 

i2aW5BOTTOM, LoWg'BOTTOM. 

Bourne, Born, or Burn implies a stream or rivulet form- 
ing a boundary ; as, T?/burn, ^ofeuRN, /Sc/bourne. 

Brad, at the beginning of words, signifies broad, from the 
Saxon brad ; as 'BRAT>ford = Broadford. 

By, Bye, Danish, Town, village, a habitation; as, GrimsBY. 

Carn or Cairn, a Druidical heap of stones. 

Caster, Chester, Cester, from the Latin castra, a camp; 
as, CAsford^= Castle or Town u^on the Ford. 

Chip or Cheap, from the Saxon cypan, to buy or sell, indi- 
cates a Market-town ; as, Cmppenham, or CjiBAFside. 

Clift or Clive signifies a cliff, a steep place or rock; as, 
CLIFTO/^. 

CoMp at the beginning of words, and Comb at the ending, 
denotes the lower situation of a place or a valley, from the 
Celtic Kum ; as, CoMpton. 

Cross has reference to the practice of placing a cross at 
the meeting of different ways to indicate the proper road. 
Thus at Charing-cRoss, Waltham-cnoss, there must have 
been a cross formerly. The term is also applied to the places 
"where roads cross each other. 



428 ETYMOLOGICi\L FORMS. 

Dale, a valley ; as, KennAh, a corruption of Kent-BALE. 

Dear, By, the habitation or place of Deer = jDerBY. 

Den indicates a valley ; as, SenterBF.^. 

Don, Dun, Down, signifies a hill gently sloping ; as, Dun- 
kirk, South Down. 

Fleet is an inlet for water ; as, WainFi.BBT. 

Ford, the passage of a river ; as, 02;ford, HartFORB. 

Ham, at the termination to the Names of Places, signifies 
House^ a habitation or Aome, in the southern counties of En- 
gland pronounced hame. The original form still remains in 
nxmlet, and in DediiAM, SouthuAmton = Bouth-home-toivn. 
HAMtonscire was abbreviated to HAmpshire. 

Hurst, from the Saxon hyrst, signifies a wood ; as, Pen- 

HURST. 

Ing, a meadow or field ; as. Readme, BirmmGham. 

Ley, Leigh, comes from the Saxon leag', a pasture field ; 
as, Oaki^FY, ChudhmGu. 

Low, from the Saxon hl(BWy a hill ; as, Houndshow. 

Marsh, Mas, from the Saxon mersc, a marsh ; as, Marsh- 
field, M-Asbrough. 

Ness, from the Anglo-Saxon ncBse, nose, signifies a place 
at or near a promontory ; as, HolderNESS. 

Over denotes the situation over a Hill or a Eiver ; as, 
WendoYFR. 

Pen, the top of a hill. 

Ric, Ridge, seem to denote a range of hills on the top of 
a hill ; as, WoldRiBGF. 

Stead, a station ; as, JZbmesTEAD. 

Stowe, from Anglo-Saxon stowe, a place ; as, GodsTOWE^ 
a place dedicated to God. 

Thorpe, from Anglo-Saxon tho7'pe, a village ; as. Bishops- 

THORPE. 

Tun, Ton, Don, a Town ; as, Hunting-To^. 
Weold, Wold, is a wild or wood ; as, CoteswoLB^ famous 
for its sheep and pasture ground. 

Worth, Anglo-Saxon weorth, a village or street ; as, Kill- 

ing'SWORTK. 

Wick, Wich, Danish vig, Dutch W7/k, a bay or creek formed 
by a curve in a river, a retreat or station ; as, GreenwicK or 
wich, the green village ; SandwicR, sand village. 



DERIVATION. 



NAMES OF THE DAYS OF THE WEEK. 



429 



§ 369. The names of the days of the Week are derived 
from the Gods worshiped by the Northern nations of Europe. 
Out of the seven days of the week, three of them correspond, in 
the origin of their names, with the Roman Calendar : 

Sunday (dies Solis) was the day sacred to the Sun = 
Sun's day. 

Monday (dies Lunse) was sacred to the Moon = Moon's 
day. 

Tuesday was sacred to the God Tuisco = Tuisco's day. ^ 

Wednesday was sacred to the God Woden = Woden's day. 

Thursday was sacred to the God Thor = Thor's day. 

FmDAY was sacred to the Goddess Friga=Friga's day. 

Saturday (dies Saturni) was sacred to the God Seater== 
Seater's day. 

names of the months. 

§ 370. The names of the Months are of Roman origin , 
thus : 

January, Januarius^ is from Janus. He was the Sun-God^ 
or God of the year of the early inhabitants of Italy. 

February, Februarius^ is from Februa^ which were puri- 
fications performed this month. 

March, Martius, is from Mars, the supposed father of 
Romulus. 

April, Aprilis, from the verb Aperio, is the month in which 
trees and flowers open their buds. 

May, Mains, is from Maia, the mother of Mercury. 

June, Junius, is from Juno. 

July, Julius, is from Julius Caesar. 

August, Augustus, is from Augustus Csesar. 

September, September, is the seventh month. 

October, October, the eighth month. 

November, November, the ninth month. 

December, December, the tenth month. 

The Romans originally had but ten months, commencing 
with March. 



PART V. 

LOGICAL FORMS. 

CHAPTER I. 

PRELIMINARY STATEMENTS. 



DEFINITIONS. 

§ 371. Logic, Greek ?ioyi,K% ficom. Xoyog, has been defined 
as the Science, and also the Art of Reasoning ; but in order 
successfully to investigate and apply the principles of reason- 
ing, the forms of Logic must be familiarly known. Aoyog 
has been defined as the word or outward Form by which the 
inward thought is expressed and made known ; also, the in- 
ward thought or reason itself, so that it comprehends both 
the Latin ratio and oratio, the sermo internus and the sermo 
externus. So intimately, also, is Logic, the derivative term, 
connected with Language, that it may, so far as it is an art, 
be correctly defined as the art of employing loMguage prop- 
erly for the purposes of Reasoning. 

Logical Forms are those forms of language to which 
logical terms are usually applied ; as, Proposition^ syllogism. 

THE RELATIONS OF GRAMMAR, LOGIC, AND RHETORIC. 

§ 372„ Logic deals with the Meaning of language ; Gram- 
mar with its Construction ; Rhetoric with its Persuasive- 
ness. Logic plans the temple ; Grammar builds it ; Rhetoric 
adorns it. To reduce a sentence to its elements, and to show 
that these elements are the Subject, the Predicate, and the 
Copula, is the department of Logic. To state that such an 
expression as Thou art speaking is correct, having reference 
only to the parts of speech and their arrangement, is a point 
in Grammar. To show the difference, in force of expression, 
between such a sentence as Great is Diana of the Ephe- 



TERMS. 43]^ 

sians^ and Diana of the Ephesians is great, is a point in 
Ehetoric. 

§ S73. The three, then, each being thus connected with 
language, are united by something more than the commune 
vinculum, the common bond which unites the several branches 
of Knowledge. They constitute the famous Trivium of the 
ancient schools, while the other branches of learning, namely, 
Arithmetic, Geometry, Music, and Astronomy, the Quadriv- 
ium ; as in these two hexameters, framed to assist the mem- 
ory : 

Gram., loquitur ; Dia., vera docet ; Rhet., verba colorat ; 

Mus., canit ; Ar., numeral ; Geo., ponderat ; Ast., colit astra 

A thorough knowledge of any one of the three can not be 
obtained without an acquaintance with the two others. 

§ 374. As Grammatical forms existed before a system of 
Grammar had been devised, so Logical forms existed in lan- 
guage before any system of Logic. It is the office of Logic 
to observe, to classify, and arrange those forms, in order that 
they may be used understandingly and successfully for the 
purposes of reasoning. 

It is foreign to the aim of the present work to exhibit the 
Principles or the Rules of Logic. All that is attempted is to 
present some of the Forms of Logic, which, in other words, 
are but Forms of Language. '^ Logic," says Whately, " is 
wholly concerned in the use of Language." 



CHAPTER IL 

TERMS. 

§ 375, The word Term in Logic is from the Latin term- 
inus, a boundary or end. In a proposition there are two 
ends or extremities, viz., the Subject and Predicate, between 
which stands the Copula. Thus, in the proposition, John is 
•ivise, John the subject, and wise the predicate, are the terms 
= terriii?ti, connected by the copula is. The Subject and 



432 LOGICAL FORMS. 

Predicate are the terms of a proposition. A term is the 
nam« of any object of contemplation. Of these objects some 
are Substances, and some are Attributes. 

1. Terms or names which stand for a class of things are 
called Common ; as, River. Those which represent a single 
thing only are called Singular ; as, Boston. 

2. Terms or names which express objects, of which one, 
as father^ implies the existence of the other, as son, are 
called Correlative. 

3. Terms or names which represent qualities which inhere 
in some subject, such as wise, are called Concrete. Those 
which represent qualities which do not thus inhere, but exist 
by themselves, such as wisdom, are called Abstract. 

4. Terms or names related to each other, as are ivise a^id 
foolish, are called Contrary. These denote only the most 
widely different in the same class. 

5. Terms or names related to each other, as are organized 
and unorganized, the one being a direct negative of the other, 
both being applicable to objects not in the same class, are 
called Contradictory. 

6. Terms or names related, as are wise and foolish, which 
can not be applied to the same person at the same time, are 
called Incompatible. Those which are related to each other, 
as are wise and worthy, which can be applied to the same 
person at the same time, are called Compatible. 

§ 376. Some of the parts of speech, as the Substantive, 
Adjective, Pronoun, can be employed as terms by themselves. 
Some of them can not be thus employed, as the Adverb, 
Preposition, Conjunction, Interjection, the Inflected Cases of 
Nouns and Pronouns or the Verb, with the exception of the 
Participle and the Infinitive Mode. These parts of speech 
can be employed as terms, if at all, only in combination with 
some other words. 

§ 377. A word which can by itself form a term is called 
a Categorematic word, from the Greek word KaT7]yopelv= to 
predicate. A word which can make only part of a term is 
called a Syncategorematic word, from the Greek word gvv, 
signifying with. It must be taken with some other ivord to 
form a term. See § 405. Strictly speaking, even the Ad- 



PREDICABLES. 433 

jective might be, as it was, reckoned with the latter class, 
syncategorematic, while the word with which it agrees, even 
when understood, might be regarded as the true term. It is 
more convenient to regard it as categorematic. See § 399. 
- A Simple Term is a name which expresses an object of 
simple apprehension. See § 414. 

A Complex Term is a combination of words which expresses 
an object of complex apprehension ; as, A man with a sword, 
A man of truth. See § 414. 

EXERCISE. 

Name and explain the subjoined Terms : 

1. 2. 3. 4. 

Hardj Mortal, King, Hard, 

Soft. Mortality. Subject. Cold. 

5. 6. 7. 8. 

City, Corporeal, Wise, Beauty, 

Boston. Incorporeal. Foolish. Beautiful. 

A term may be made of several words, still it expresses 
but one thing. See § 385. 

PREDICABLES. 

§ 378. In the Language of the schools there were Five 
Predicables, ^. e.. Five things, one or other of which must 
be affirmed wherever any thing is affirmed concerning another 
thing, as in the following example : 

Species, Wine is ........ 1. 

Genus, a juice . 2. 

Differentia, extracted from grapes .3. 

Property, inebriating 4. 

Accident, sweet 5. 

1. Wine is the Species, or subordinate Class. 

2. Juice is the Genus, or Class in which wine is included. 

3. The quality which distinguishes '' wine" from all other 
<< species" of juice is its being «' extracted from grapes ;" the 
Logical name for such a quality is the Differentia =G?2yer- 
Qnce = characteristic. This is something joined to the essence, 

E E 



434 



LOGICAL FORMS. 



4. A quality which belongs universally to the species, as 
that of '' inebriating" to wine, without being its distinguish- 
ing quality, is termed a Property of it. 

5. A quality which does not belong universally to a species, 
but is present only in some of the individuals which compose 
it, as that of being *^ sweet" to " wine," is termed an Acci- 
dent. 



EXERCISE. 



Mention which of these five relations the lower terms of 
the subjoined pairs sustain to the upper : 



K-ose, 
Flower. 

Dictionary, 
Alphabetical. 

Square, 
Rectangular. 

Science, 
Geometry. 



Gold, 
Heavy. 

Winter, 
Cold. 

River, 

Swift. 

Blood, 
Red. 



Bird, 
Winged. 

Plow, 
Implement. 

Man, 

Civilized. 

Animal, 
Bird. 



Dictionary, 
Book. 

Poetry, 
Rhyme. 

House, 
Cottage. 

Inspired writers, 
Apostles. 



GENUS AND SPECIES. 

§ 379. Genus and Difference make up the Species. Thus 
" animal" (the genus) and ^« rational" (the difference) consti- 
tute the *' man." The Species, in reality, contains the Ge- 
nus (^. e., implies it) ; and when the Genus is called a whole, 
and is said to contain the Species, this is only a metaphor- 
ical expression, signifying that it comprehends the Species 
in its more extensive, but less full {intensive) signification : 
e. g., if I predicate of Caesar that he is an animal, I say the 
truth, indeed, but not the whole truth ; for he is not only an 
animal, but a man, so that " man" is a more full and com- 
plete expression than " animal ;" while " animal" is more 
extensive, as it comprehends several other species ; as. Beast, 
hird, &c. In the same manner, the name of a species is a 
more extensive, but less full and complete term than that of 
an individual (viz., a singular term). 

A Genus which is also a species is called a Subalternum 



GENUS AND SPECIES. 



435 



Genus or species, as "bird," which is the genus of ^'pigeon," 
a species, is itself a species of '' animal." There may be 
more than one Subalternum. 

A Genus which is not considered as a species of any thing 
is called SummuxM (the highest) Genus. 

A Species which is not considered as genus of any thing, 
but is regarded as containing under it only individuals^ is 
called Infima, the lowest species. 

In enumerations it is illogical to rank higher and lower 
species together : thus, e. g*., to speak of" Flowers" as being 
roses^ lilies^ water-lilies, would be illogical, the third article 
being manifestly included in the second. ; 

Name. A. Intension. B. Extension. 

Genus \ Summum . . . Body Body Stone, plant, brute, man. 

c Subalternum . Living body . Body with life ....... Plant, brute, man. 

Suballernum . Animal. . . . Body with life and sensation . . . Brute, man. 

Species, Infima Man Body with life, sensation, and reason. . . Man. 

In the Summum Genus the Intension is least, the Exten- 
sion greatest. In the Infima Species the Intension is great- 
est, the Extension least. 

EXERCISE I. 

^ Name the intermediate species between the following terms : 

Animal, Instrument, Vessel, Rite, 

Mastiff. Sword. Frigate. Baptism. 

EXERCISE II. 

In the following enumeration specify the Illogical items ', 
Animals are. Horses, Lions, Dogs, Spaniels, Hares. 
Colors are. White, Red, Crimson, Black, Green. 
Compositions are. Histories, Poems, Odes, Orations, Essays. 
Citizens are. Artisans, Manufacturers, Seamen, Sailors. 

ABSTRACTION AND GENERALIZATION. 

§ 380. Abstraction is the process by which we notice 
some part or parts of the nature of an individual thing or 
object of perception and reflection, without noticing for the 
time any other part or condition of its nature. Abstraction 
may also be described by a reference to its office as an in- 
strument of reason, which is to notice those parts of several 



436 LOGICAL FORMS. ^ 

things in which they agree with one another. The word 
means a drawing-away of their marks of agreement from 
all the distinctive marks which the single objects have ; e. g., 
we may abstract from all the houses which come in om- way 
certain points of agreement (as that they are covered build- 
ings, and fit for the habitation of men), and fix the attention 
upon these without regard to the points of difference (name- 
ly, the height, length, position, convenience, decoration). 
We can not '« Generalize" without '' abstracting," but we 
may perform Abstraction without Generalization. 

Generalization is the act of Comprehending, under a 
Common name, several objects agreeing in some point which 
we abstract from each of them, and which that common 
name serves to indicate. A General name is one which is 
capable of being truly affirmed in the same sense of each of 
an indefinite number of things. An Individual or a Singu- 
lar name is a name which is only capable of being truly af- 
firmed in the same sense of one thing. When we refer two 
or more individuals to a species, or two or more species to a 
common Genus, we are said to Generalize. The process of 
generalization and abstraction are employed in arriving at the 
logical distinctions of Genus and Species. 

EXERCISE I. 

1. Abstract some quality from the other qualities in a field 
of Grass, and give a name to it. 

2. Abstract from the character of Bonaparte certain quali- 
ties which fitted him to be a Tyrant, or certain qualities that 
fitted him to be a Warrior. 

Green or brave indicates a certain quality in concreto^ 
which we can abstract from the other qualities. Greenness 
or bravery is a quality in abstracto. While in concreto it 
is a predicate, when in abstracto it is a subject. 

EXERCISE II. 

, Refer each couplet to a suitable Genus : 
Captain, Weaver, 

Colonel. Cutler. 

Tragedy, , Kingdom, 
Comedy. Republic. 



Sickness, 


Gluttony, 


Health. 


Ebriety. 


Fencing, 


Love, 


Dancing. 


Hatred. 



DIVISION. 437 



DIVISION. 



§ 381. Logical Division is a metaphorical expression to 
signify the distinct {i. e., separate) enumeration of several 
things signified by a common name. This is the exact op- 
posite of Generalization. It consists in the distribution of a 
Genus into its several species. For as in that you lap aside 
the differences by which several things are distinguished, so 
as to call them all by one common name, so in Division you 
add on the differences, so as to enumerate them by their sev- 
eral particular names. Thus, " Mineral" is said to be di- 
vided into stones, metals, &c., and metals again into gold, 
iron, &c. These are called Parts (or Members) of the divi- 
sion. Logical Division is different from Physical Division. 
"What is true of a ''logical whole" is true of each of its 
parts. What is true of a " physical whole" is not true of 
its parts. Logically, ''tree" is divided into oak, elms, pine, 
&c. Physically, " tree" is divided into root, trunk, branches, 
&c. There may be two or more logical divisions of the same 
Genus. Thus, "Book" may be divided according to the 
size; as, Quarto, octavo, &c. ; or according to its matter; 
as, Poetical, historical, &c. ; or according to its language ; 
as, Latin, French, &c. The principle of the division must 
be adhered to from the first to the last. To begin with one 
principle and to introduce another, thus intermixing them, is 
to make a Cross Division. 

Three rules are to be observed in correct division : 1. The 
constituent species, or members, must exclude one another. 
2. The constituent species must be equal, together, to the 
Genus divided. 3. The division must be made according to 
one principle, that cross division may be avoided. 



EXAMPLES. 



§ 382. Goodness of Memory may be divided into Suscep- 
tibility, retentiveness, readiness. — Dugald Stewart. 

Happiness consists in, 1. The exercise of the social affec- 
tions. 2. The exercise of our faculties in some engaging 
end. 3. The prudent constitution of the habits. 4. Health. 
— Paley. 



438 LOGICAL FORMS. 



EXERCISES. 

Distinguish by the proper conjunctions, viz., either and 
or, the cross divisions in the following enumerations : 

1. Men are. Merchants, farmers, lawyers, negroes, whites, 
Pagans, Christians. 

2. Substantives are, Masculine, fenainine, proper, common. 

DEFINITION. 

§ 383. Logical Definition always consists of the Genus 
and Differentia. The former serves to mark the points in 
which it agrees with others of the same kind, the latter 
those in which it differs from them. A plant would be de- 
fined physically by enumerating the leaves, stalks, roots, &c. 
Logically, it would be defined an organized Being, destitute 
of sensation ; the former of these expressions denoting the 
Genus, the latter the Difference, which are the parts of 
which Logic considers every species as consisting, and which 
are evidently separable by the mind alone. Thus, if Logic 
were defined to be the Art of Reasoning, we should explain 
this definition to consist in the statement of its " Genus" as 
'' an Art," and of its " difference" as the art of " Reason- 
ing." A proper name is incapable of a logical definition. 

E X E R c I s E I. 

Analyze into their respective "Genera" and ''differences" 
the following definition of terms : 

1. A meadow is a field devoted to pasturage. 

2. A pension is an allowance for past services. 

3. Rhetoric is the art of speaking persuasively. 

4. Bigotry is exclusive attachment to party. 

EXERCISE II. 

Define, by <' Genus" and •' difference," the following terms : 
An Island, Patriotism, A chair, Politeness, 
A Garden, Prejudice, Courage, Pride. 



THE PROPOSITION. 439 



CHAPTER III. 

THE PROPOSITION. 

§ 384. A Proposition is a sentence in which something is 
affirmed or denied of something, A proposition defined log- 
ically is a ''^Sentence assertive, '''' i. e., affirming or denying, 
" Sentence" being the Genus, and " assertive" the difference. 
This definition expresses the whole essence, and it relates 
entirely to the words of a proposition. 

In a proposition there are two somethings, the something 
spoken about and the something said concerning it. Thus, 
in the proposition Gold is yellow, the quality, property, or 
attribute expressed by the word yellow is affirmed of the 
substance gold, so that yellow is one part of the proposition, 
and gold another. 

Again, in the proposition ice is not hot, the property, 
quality, or attribute expressed by the word hot is denied of 
ice. Ice, therefore, is one part of the proposition, and hot 
another. 

But to say Gold-yellow, is to employ words to no purpose. 
The combination conveys no meaning. There are only two 
separate somethings. The expression is imperfect. It needs 
a bond to connect them together. 

Hence every proposition consists of three parts : 

I. The Subject. The something concerning which we 
make a statement, whether in. the way of affirmation or de- 
nial, is called the Subject. In the example above, gold, ice, 
are subjects, and we can assert of them that they are yellow 
or hot, or else that they are not so, i. e., that they are not 
yellovj, not hot. In the first case, the proposition is Affirma- 
tive ; in the second. Negative. 

II. The Predicate. The something which we connect 
with the subject is the Predicate : Yellow, hot, are predicates. 
They are asserted or predicated of the subjects. Gold, ice. 

III. The Copula. That part of a proposition which con- 



440 LOGICAL FORMS. 

neots the subject and predicate is called the Copula. It is 
the word which serves as a sign to denote the existence of 
either an affirmation or a denial. Man — mortal : Each of 
these words now stand isolated from the other. Place be- 
tween them the magical word is, and the twain become one 
proposition. In this case the copula is affirmative. In the 
proposition man is not mortal, the copula is negative. 

EXERCISE 

Form propositions by supplying the parts that are wanting 
in the following pairs : 1. The Copula to the subject and 
predicate. Summer — pleasant ; Autumn — sober ; Winter — 
sighing ; Spring— a season. 2. The Predicate to the Sub- 
ject and Copula. The air is — ; The sky is — ; The snow 
was — ; The storm was — . 3. The Subject to the copula and 
predicate : — is brave ; - — was a hero ; — is honorable; — was 
a coward. 

THE PARTS OF A PROPOSITION NOT MORE THAN 
THREE. 

^ 385. In the proposition, the sun (is^ shining, we have 
a Simple proposition. We readily see that there are but 
three parts. But it must be evident to every one, who re- 
flects upon either what he hears or reads, that propositions 
are in reality much less simple than they have been described 
as being. If propositions are so short, how is it that sen- 
tences are so long ? If subjects and predicates are so simple, 
how became periods so complex? 

The fact is, that both subjects and predicates may be 
made complex, by the addition of subordinate parts. A. 
term may consist of several words : 

The sun (is) shining. 

The early sun (is) brightly shining. 

The early sun with glad beams, (is) brightly shining 
through the air. 

The early sun with glad beams having awakened the trav- 
eler, (is) brightly shining through the air, upon his path. 

Terms like those of the last three examples are called 
Mixed terms. The objects which they express are called 



THE PROPOSITION. 44j_ 

objects of complex Apprehension, in opposition to objects of 
simple apprehension, like the sun, &c. The names of objects 
of complex apprehension (z. e., mixed terms) are sometimes 
called Many-worded Names. 

Again, one proposition may be subordinate to another ; in 
other words, a whole proposition may enter into the structure 
of many- worded names, e. g.^ 

1. The man (is) returning, 

2. Who was sent to market. 

Combine these, and they form but a single designation or 
name. Thus, the man who was sent to market (is) return- 
ing. The words, the man who was sent to market , form 
but a single name or term. 

THE PARTS OF A PROPOSITION NOT FEWER THAN 

THREE. 

§ 386. Apparent contradictions to the statement, that the 
parts of a Proposition are not fewer than three, are of, two 
sorts. The first is referable to the practice of language, 
more or less general ; the second to the seeming properties 
of the copula. 

1. a. The Predicate and Copula may be contained in one 
word, e. g., instead of saying fire is burning, we may say, 
as we generally do, fire burns. In this case the grammat- 
ical form of the proposition does not coincide with the logical 
form; nevertheless, as it is clear that the shorter and more 
compendious form is capable of being resolved into the longer 
one, the statement, that the parts of a proposition are no 
fewer than three, may still hold good. 

b. The Subject and Copula may be contained in one word. 
The Latin proposition, est bonus ^= he is good, exemplifies 
this. 

c. The Subject, Copula, and Predicate may be contained 
in one word, as in the Latin voco = I am calling. 

2. The seeming properties of the Copula. — Many Logi- 
cians have considered that, when the predicate implies sim- 
ple existence, it is expressed by the copula alone, as in such 
expressions, God is. 

This error arises from the word is being a copula and 



442 LOGICAL FORMS. 

something more. It superadds, to its power of denoting the 
agreement or disagreement between the subject and predi- 
cate, the notion of existence. The essentially relative char- 
acter of the copula is, moreover, a proof of the erroneousness 
of the view indicated. 

In many languages, the Hebrew for instance, the copula 
is regularly omitted. This is merely one proof out of many, 
that the structure of propositions in Language does not al- 
ways coincide with the structure of propositions in logic. 

§ 387. Questions of Appeal are implied propositions, being 
plainly equivalent either to affirmative or negative ones. 
Thus, '^ Who would be insane enough, without the hope of 
future recompense, to undertake constant labor ?" is equiva- 
lent to " No one would be (insane enough, without the hope 
of future recompense, to undertake constant labor.)" 

§ 388. Propositions which do not explicitly contain the 
copula may be easily resolved into those vrhich do. Thus, 
"Gold surpasses all metals in brilliancy," may be stated, 
<^ Gold is superior to all metals in brilliancy." In this case 
we distinguish the copula from the predicate. 

§ 389. 1. Where the substantive verb is introduced by the 
adverb there^ it is itself both copula and predicate, being equiv- 
alent to exist : " There is no flesh in man's obdurate heart." 

2. The Subject will sometimes succeed the predicate, 
though its common order is to precede it. In this case it 
is often represented at the beginning of the sentence by the 
pronoun it ; as, It is (to be hoped) that we shall succeed. 
Hence it represents the subject, that we shall succeed. 

EXERCISE I. 

Point out the Subject and the Predicate in the following 
examples : 

1. (To tell all that we think) is inexpedient. 

2. " Better (to reign in hell than serve in heaven.") 

3. It is unlawful to kill an innocent man. 

4. Rising early is healthful. 

5. There is (no such thing as witchcraft.) 

6. There can be no natural desire of artificial good. 

7. " Sweet is the breath of morn." 



THE PROPOSITION. 443 

EXERCISE II. 

Express the following propositions in strict logical form, 
making the Copula, when necessary, apparent, and distinguish 
the Subject and Predicate : 

1. Are such abilities as the human made for no purpose? 

2. Remorse follows disobedience. 

3. A philosopher should understand Geometry. 

4. Friendship has no tendency to secure veracity. 

5. Who is pleased to have his all neglected? 

DIVISION OP PROPOSITIONS. 

§ 390. 1. Categorical Propositions are those which are ex- 
pressed absolutely ; as, C(Bsar was a tyrant. 

Hypothetical Propositions are those which are express- 
ed conditionally ; as, If Ccesar was a tyrant, he deserved 
death. 

2. Propositions are divided, according to their Quality , into 
Affirmative and Negative ; as, Birds fly ; man is not per- 
fect. An affirmative proposition is one whose copula is af- 
firmative. A negative proposition is one whose copula is 
negative. 

3. Propositions are divided, according to their Quantity, into 
Universal and Particular ; as, England is an Island ; All 
tyrants are miserable ; No spendthrift is happy. These are 
Universal propositions. Some Islands are fertile ; All ty- 
rants are not assassinated, are Particular propositions. The 
words all, every, as in the last example, when prefixed to 
Negative propositions, are not to be considered as signs of uni- 
versality. For all tyrants are not assassinated is equivalent 
to some tyrants are not assassinated. This last is evidently 
a Particular and not a Universal proposition. Singular prop- 
ositions, as when a proper name is used, are reckoned as 
Universal? ; as, Brutus was a Roman; i. e., the whole of 
Brutus, 

1. A Universal Affirmative : All cowards are cruel. U. A. 

2. A Universal Negative : No coward is cruel. U. N. 

3. A Particular Affirmative : 8ome kings are assassina^ 
ted. P. A. 



444 LOGICAL FORMS. 

4. A Particular Negative : All kings are not assasstnU'- 
ted, P. N. 

EXERCISES. 

Give the Names of the following propositions : 
i. Cicero was an eloquent patriot. 

2. If Cicero was a patriot, he ought not to have been put 
to death. 

3. Whoever is capable of deliberate crime is responsible. 

4. No one is gratuitously wicked. 

5. All the accused were not guilty. 

6. Some blacks are civilized. 

DISTRIBUTION. 

§ 391. When a term or general name stands for each and 
every individual which it is a name of, or, in other words, 
which it denotes, it is said to be distributed. Thus, in the 
proposition, All men are mortal the subject, man, is distrib- 
uted, because mortality is affirmed of each and every man. 
The predicate, mortal, is not distributed, because the only 
mortals who are spoken of in the proposition are those who 
happen to be men, while the word, for aught that appears, 
may (and, in fact, does) comprehend under it an indefinite 
number of objects besides man. In the proposition, some 
men are mortal, both the subject and the predicate are un- 
distributed. In the following, No men are perfect, both the 
subject and the predicate are distributed. Not only is the 
attribute perfection denied of the entire class, but that class 
is severed and cast out from the whole of the class perfect, 
and not merely from some part of that class. 

1. All Universal propositions (and no particular) distribute 
the subject. 

2. All Negative (and no affirmative), the predicate. 

exercise. 

In which of the following propositions is the Subject, and 
in which the Predicate, distributed ? 

1. All men are sinful. 

2. Washington was the savior of his country. 

3. No human government allows absolute liberty. 



THE PROPOSITION. 445 

CONVERSION. 

§ 392. Conversion of a proposition is the transposition oi 
the terms. When the subject is made the predicatCj and the 
predicate the subject, a proposition is said to be converted. 
No conversion is employed for any logical purpose, unless it 
be illative^ i. e., when the truth of the Converse is implied 
by the truth of the Given proposition ; e. g*., 

No virtuous man is a rebel, therefore 

No rebel is a virtuous man. 

Some boasters are cowards, therefore 

Some cowards are boasters. 

Conversion can, then, be illative only when no term is dis- 
tributed in the Converse which was not distributed in the 
Given proposition. In a Just Definition the terms are ex^ 
actly equivalent^ or, as they are called, convertible terms ; it 
is no matter which is made the subject, and which the pred- 
icate. 

" All equiangular triangles are equilateral, and 

All equilateral triangles are equiangular." 

Here the terms are convertible. 

OPPOSITION. 

§ 393. Two propositions are said to be opposed to each other 
when, having the same subject and predicate, they differ in 
quantity^ in quality, or both. It is evident that with any 
given subject and predicate you may state four distinct prop- 
ositions, any two of which are said to be opposed ; hence 
there are four kinds of opposition, viz. : 1. The two Uni- 
versal (U. A. and U. N.) are called contraries. 2. The two 
Particular (P. A. and P. N.), sub-contraries. 3. A Universal 
Affirmative and a Particular Affirmative (U. A. and P. A.) ; 
or a Universal Negative and a Particular Negative (U. N. 
and P. N.), subalterns. 4. A Universal Affirmative and a 
Particular Negative (U. A. and P. N.) ; or a Universal Neg- 
ative and a Particular Affirmative (U. N. and P. A.), contra- 
dictories. 

Contrary propositions may both be false, but can not both 
be true. Sub-contrary may both be true, but can not both 



446 LOGICAL FORMS. 

be false. Of two Sub-alternate propositions, the truth of the 
Universal proves the truth of the Particular ; and the falsity 
of the particular proves the falsity of the universal, but not 
vice versa. Of two Contradictory propositions, one must be 
true and the other false : 

All X (U. A.) is Y ) „ , . 
TVT ^ /TT TVT \ • A- <" Contraries. 
No X (U. N.) IS Y S 

Some X (P. A.) is Y ) o u . • 

•^r /r> TVT X • ^ ,^ > Sub-contranes. 
Some X (P. N.) :s not Y S 

All X (U. A.) is Y > 1 ' - 

SomeX (P.A.)isY> ,' u i. 

NoX(U:N.)isY [Subalterns. 

SomeX(P. N.)isnotY( J 

All X (U. A.) is Y \\ 

Some X (P. N.) is not Y 5 1 ^ ,. ^ . 

No X (U.N.) is Y ^ [Contradictories. 

Some X (P. A.) is Y ^ J 
SIMPLE PROPOSITIONS AND COMPLEX. 

§ 394. In order for a proposition to be Simple, its terms 
must be simple. The Substantive or pronoun, forming one 
of them, must be the name of an object of incomplex appre- 
hension. The Adjective or participle that very often forms 
one, must also be simple. Finally, the Verb, if it stand in- 
stead of a participle and copula, must also be simple. A 
Complex proposition is one which has a complex term, or 
whose verb, if it stand for both predicate and copula, is modi- 
lied by some adjunct. See § 377 and § 385. 

COMPOUND PROPOSITIONS. 

§ 395. Compound Propositions are those which are made 
up of two or more subjects or predicates, or both. They are 
either Conjunctive or Disjunctive, according as the connec- 
tion subsisting betv/een those different subjects or predicates 
is of a copulative or disjunctive character. 

1. He is both a knave and a fool (Conjunctive). 

2. Every action is good or bad (Disjunctive.) 

EXERCISE. 

Distinguish the compound propositions from such as are 
compounded in appearance, and state which of the former are 
conjunctive and which disjunctive^ and point out the com' 
plez. 



RELATIONS OF THE PROPOSITION, ETC. 447 

1. Friendship either finds or makes men equal. 

2. He who voluntarily lives quite alone must be either 
more or less than a man. 

3. The Doctrine which places the chief Good in pleasure 
is unworthy of a philosopher. 

4. It is not the cross, but the cause, which makes the 
Martyr. 

5. Alike the subject and predicate are distributed in uni- 
versal negatives. 

6. The sun, moon, and stars can not all shine at once. 

7. Either this man hath sinned, or his parents. 

8. Extreme riches and poverty are alike to be deprecated. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE RELATIONS OF THE PROPO SITION TO THE 
PARTS OF SPEECH. 



THE PROPORTION WHICH PROPOSITIONS BEAR TO 
LANGUAGE. 

§ 396. If we consider the great extent to which state- 
ments concerning particular objects, or classes of objects, form 
the staple of human conversation ; if we remember how much 
of our speech is applied to making assertions concerning differ- 
ent subjects ; and if we convince ourselves of the degrees in 
which we are continually affirming or denying something of 
something, we shall perceive the great proportion which that 
part of our language which takes the form of propositions 
bears to that which does not do so. From this fact we in- 
fer the importance of studying the structure of propositions 
in order to a philosophic classification of the parts of speech. 

No one can look into a Grammar without finding an 
enumeration of what are called the Parts of Speech, viz., the 
Verb, the Substantive, the Adjective, the Pronoun, the Ad- 
verb, the Preposition, the Conjunction, the Interjection j and 



4 48 LOGICAL FORMS. 

the question arises, How are these distinguished from each 
other ? 

THE TESTS BY WHICH THE PARTS OF SPEECH ARE 
DETERMINED, 

§ 397. Now the Parts of Speech are determined by the 
strticture of propositions ; and a word is a Noun, a Conjunct 
Hon, or a Verb, according to either the place it takes in a 
proposition, or the relation it bears to one. This will be 
fully shown in the following pages. 

1. Is the Grammatical form of a word a sufficient test? 
No substantive, in the etymological signification of the term, 
ends in -uv in Greek, while infinitive verbs, generally speak- 
ing, do so end. Nevertheless, the infinitive forms, ro (pdovelv, 
ev Tw ^Qovelv, are not verbs, but substantives. For the pur- 
poses of Syntax, at least, the logical test, as opposed to the 
etymological test, is indispensable. This is especially true 
in the English language, which is more irregular in its ety- 
mological forms than the classical languages. In a given 
case we do not think of saying what part of speech a word 
is until we have seen it used in a sentence. The etymolo- 
gical form, then, is an insufficient test. 

2. Neither is the Phonetic form (i. e., the sound) of a word 
a test. The same combination of sounds may have a variety 
of meanings, and may sometimes constitute one part of speech, 
sometimes another. The word up is an Adverb in the sen- 
tence, I go up in a balloon ; a Preposition in the sentence, 
I go up a tree. 

" liOve is not love 
Which alters when it alteration finds." 
" I do love thee so 
That I will shortly send thy soul to heaven." 
*' He was present at that love feast." 

How do we know what part of speech love is in these 
several cases ? Evidently from the office which it performs, 
and not from its form. It is a Noun, or a Verb, or an Ad- 
jective, according to its office in these three propositions. A 
part of speech can, in a given case, be distinguished only by 
examining the speech itself, and the principal speech is the 
proposition. 



RELATIONS OF THE PROPOSITION, ETC. 449 



THE PARTS OF SPEECH WHICH ENTER INTO THE 
STRUCTURE OF SIMPLE PROPOSITIONS. 

§ 398. The Substantive. — A word which can enter into 
the structure of a simple proposition, either as the subject or 
the- predicate, is Ga\led\Si Substantive ; as, ''Iron is hard." 
Here the word iron is the subject, one of the three parts of a 
simple proposition. " y^ashmgioii W3iS president. ^^ Here the 
word president is the predicate, one of the three parts of a 
simple proposition. A noun is the name of any object or 
entity that exists, or that is conceived to exist. Hence we 
see how it can form the subject of a proposition. "A name," 
says Hobbes, " is a word taken at pleasure, to serve for a 
mark, which may raise in our mind a thought like to some 
thought such as we had before, and which being pronounced 
to others, may be to them a sign of what thought the speaker 
had before in his mind." 

Now an object must either possess or be without certain 
qualities, properties, or attributes ; e. g-., it must be either 
white, or not white. Hence the name of any property or at- 
tribute of any such object may form a predicate; e. g.^ Snow 
is white ; Coal is not white. But we may also predicate of 
any object or entity that it may be equal to, or identical 
with, another object or entity ; e. g"., A man is an animal ; 
A bird is not a quadruped. This shows that the name of 
an object may enter into propositions either as Subject or 
Predicate. 

§ 399. The Adjective. — A word which can enter into the 
structure of a simple proposition as the predicate, but not as 
the subject, is called an Adjective. Thus, in the instance 
above, white is the predicate of the simple proposition, but it 
can not be the subject of it. That the name of such a quality 
or attribute can not be the Subject of it is clear. We can 
not make the subject of our conversation a name betokening 
a quality. "We can predicate a quality of an object in which 
that quality inheres, but we can not predicate an object of a 
quality. We can say snow is white, but we can not say 
white is snow, in the sense of predicating snow of white. 

§ 400. The Pronoun. — A word which stands for a noun, 

Ff 



450 LOGICALFORMS. 

and can enter into the structure of a simple proposition either 
as the subject or the predicate, is a Pronoun. 

In respect to what it denotes, it is a Noun Substantive 
or Adjective, as the case may be. In respect to the manner 
of denoting it, it is peculiar, being Variable ; whereas Sub- 
stantives are Invariable. 

Thus the Substantive snow takes its name from qualities 
which it possesses, and through the effect of which it becomes 
cognizable to our senses and our imagination. Now these 
qualities, or their equivalents, are fixed and invariable. 

In like manner, the adjective white means some fixed, in- 
herent quality of some object or entity. The particular class 
of objects or entities to which it applies is not always cer- 
tain ; but it is always certain that it is the name of a con- 
stant quality. 

The character of the words snoiv and white is determined 
by the nature of the objects to which they are applied. 

Hence, a contrast between nouns and pronouns. The 
character of words like this^ that, it, thou, he, is determ- 
ined by the relation of the object spoken of to something 
else. Hence the meaning of a pronoun as a name varies 
with the variable relations of the object to which it is applied, 
while the meaning of nouns, both substantive and adjective, 
expresses the constant characteristics of the objects to which 
it is applied. Nouns are absolute names ; Pronouns, rela- 
tive. 

The difference, then, between a Substantive and an Ad- 
jective is, that the former can be either the Subject or the 
Predicate of a proposition, and the latter can be only the 
Predicate, but not the subject of a proposition. 

The difference between the Substantive and the Adjective 
on the one hand, and the Pronoun on the other, is, that the 
two former are variable names, and the latter is an invaria- 
ble name. 

Some writers apply the word name only to the denotation 
of objects or entities, and that only when its power is invari- 
able, i. e., they restrict it to Substantives. In this case, not 
only are adjectives not names, but pronouns are in the same 
predicament. 



RELATIONS OF THE PROPOSITION, ETC. 451 

Participle.— An Adjective which can combine with a 
copula, so as to form, in one word, a predicate and copula, is 
called a Participle. 

Now every quality or attribute implies one of two things 
on the side of the subject. It implies either a state ; as, 
Grass is green^ i. e., in a state of greenness ; or else an ac- 
tion ; as. Snow is falling, i. e., in the act of falling. The 
propositions may be taken negatively, Grass is not green ; 
Snow is not falling. Furthermore, every name of an at- 
tribute or quality is an adjective. 

But it has been seen, that although the copula and pred- 
icate are, in Logic, separate elements of the proposition, they 
may, in Grammar, coalesce. And it must further be re- 
marked, that the tendency of the copula and predicate to co- 
alesce is different for the two different kinds of qualities or 
attributes. 

1. With predicates expressive of a state, the coalition is 
comparatively rare. 

2. With predicates expressive of an action, the coalition 
is well-nigh universal. 

§ 401. Verbs. — A word capable of forming by itself both 
the predicate and copula of a Proposition is called a Verb. 

The extent to which different languages separate or com- 
bine the predicate or copula is very great. We say, it (is) 
green ; the Latin says, viret. In certain American dialects, 
the practice of combining the predicate and copula is so great 
as to leave few adjectives in the language. In the Cree, 
such predicates and copulas as is circular, is tall, is short, 
are expressed by single v/ords. Hence the language has been 
said to be all verb, and no adjective. 

The copula, as a separate element, uncombined with a 
predicate, has not yet been found to exist in any language ; 
consequently, it has not yet been shown to constitute a sep- 
arate part of speech. 

Sometimes even the substantive-verb itsdf is both Copula 
and Predicate, namely, where existence sione is affirmed or 
denied ; as, " God is." Here existing is the Predicate. 

A verb is, in current language, a name for all simple words 
capable of expressing the existence or non-existence of a 



452 LOGICAL FORMS. 

state or of an action, and it signifies either to be something 
or to do something. 

Nothing but a word of this kind can be at once predicate 
and copula. The predicate-element denotes the particular 
state or action ; the copula-element, its existence or non-ex- 
istence, or, to speak more generally, its applicability or non- 
applicability to the subject. 

The predicate-element of a verb may also be called the 
nominal-element, since all predicates are nouns, z. e., Substan- 
tives or Adjectives. 

§ 402. Articles. — Certain words which serve as special 
signs of the Definitude or the Indefinitude of the subject of a 
proposition are called Articles. These words are a and the. 

1. A man is mortal. 2. The man is mortal. 

In the first proposition the subject is comparatively In- 
definite ; in the second it is Definite. They mark an object 
as definite or indefinite, but with less precision than the De- 
monstrative Pronoun or the Numeral. 

If the could be used when this or that (the words with 
which it is etymologically connected) is used, it would be 
either an Adjective or Pronoun. If a could be used when 
one (the word with which it is etymologically connected) is 
used, it would be an Adjective. 

§ 403. Negatives. — A word capable of converting an af- 
firmative into a negative proposition is called a Negative. 
No man is mortal ; The man is not mortal. Here no and 
not enter into the structure of a simple proposition, and 
change it from Affirmative to Negative. 

§ 404. Interrogatives. — A word which serves as a sign to 
denote that a proposition is stated in the form of a question 
is called an Interrogative. A question is reducible to an 
assertion. In the expression. What is this ? its meaning is, 
" This is something concerning which I want information.'* 
The predicate is what, 

PARTS OF SPEECH WHICH CAN ENTER ONLY INTO 
COMPLEX propositions. 

§ 405. Adverbs. — A word which can not by itself form 
the constituent part of a simple proposition, but which can, 



RELATIONS OF THE PROPOSITION, ETC. 453 

in combination with Verbs or Adjectives, form a part of a 
complex proposition, is called an Adverb. '' John spoke 
loudly.'''' '' She is excessively timid." Words that can take the 
place of loudly or of excessively in a proposition are adverbs. 

As the copula is essentially simple, whatever complexity 
occurs in propositions occurs in the terms. Whenever it is a 
verb by which complexity is given to a proposition, it is done 
on the strength of its predicate-element exclusively. Accord- 
ing to this vie\y, the adverb combines with an Adjective 
upon the same ground upon which it combines with a Verb. 

§ 406. Prepositions. — A word which can not by itself 
form a constituent part of a simple proposition, but which can 
enter into a complex term to express some relation, is a 
Preposition. 

When a word originally a preposition connects with a 
verb, and simply indicates the manner in which an action 
takes place, it has become converted from a preposition into 
an adverb. ^ 

PARTS OF SPEECH WHICH DO NOT ENTER INTO THE 
STRUCTURE OF PROPOSITIONS. 

§ 407. Conjunctions. — A word which connects two proposi- 
tions, without entering into the construction of either, is 
called a Conjunction. " The day is bright, because the sun 
is shining." 

A conjunction is a word denoting the relation which one 
proposition bears to another. Some words used as Conjunc- 
tions are sometimes also used as Prepositions. All fled but 
he. Here the word but is a conjunction, and the propositions 
are two in number : 1. All fled ; 2. but he did not fly. All 
fled but him. Here the word but is a preposition, meaning 
except, and the proposition is single. 

§ 408. Interjections. — A word which can not enter into 
any proposition, or connect two propositions, but simply ex- 
presses surprise or any emotion, is called an Interjection. 
They have a meaning, but not a meaning dependent on as- 
sertion. 



454 LOGICAL FORMS. 



EXERCISES. 



1. In two different propositions use the same word (i. e., 
the same in form) as a Substantive and a Verb. 

2. In two different propositions use the same word as a 
Pronoun and a Conjunction. 

8. In two different propositions use the same word as an 
Adjective and an Adverb. 

4. In two different propositions use the same word as an 
Adverb and a Preposition. 

5. In two different propositions use the same word as a 
Conjunction and a Preposition. 

6. In two different propositions use the same word as a 
Conjunction and an Adverb. 

7. In three different propositions use the same word as a 
Substantive or Adjective, and a Verb (stone). 

8. In two different propositions express different degrees 
of definitude by the articles. 

9. Change two affirmative propositions into two negative 
ones by using different negatives. 

10. Change two propositions into two questions, and men- 
tion which are their predicates. 

LOGICAL AND GRAMMATICAL ELEMENTS OF A PROP- 
OSITION. 

§ 409. The Logical elements of a Proposition have been 
examined. With these the grammatical elements may or 
may not coincide ; in fact, they rarely do altogether. The 
most important difference takes place in one of the four fol- 
lowing ways : 

I. The Grammatical expression may be more compendious 
than the Logical one. In this way we get the copula and 
predicate combined in a single word ; or (changing the ex- 
pression), a verb instead of a participle and copula for gram- 
matical purposes, fire burns =fire is burning'. 

11. Grammar may express not only the logical elements 
of a proposition, but something besides them. Thus, the 
signs of gender and number expressed in the declension of 
nouns, and the signs of time expressed in the tenses of verbs, 
are extra-logical elements of propositions. 



RELATIONS OF THE PROPOSITION, ETC. 455 

III. Grammar may employ certain forms for the sake of 
showing the relationship that certain words bear to each other, 
independent of any idea of substitution. The sign of the 
nominative case, where it exists, exists as a mark of distinc- 
tion, not as the equivalent of any of the logical elements of 
a proposition. This is not the case with the -o in \ogo=I 
call. The -o in voco stands as the representative of the sub- 
ject I, and as its substitute. Where an inflection stands 
as the equivalent of a logical element, the practice of Gram- 
mar and the forms of Logic differ in degree only, not in kind. 

IV. Excess of Expression. — In the word callest, the -es^t 
is the sign of the second person. As such it is an equivalent 
to the personal pronoun thou, the logical subject. Neverthe- 
less, we say not simply call-est, but thou call-est, so using 
both pronoun and the substitute at the same time. This is 
an instance of what may be called excess of expression. 

Some of the previous remarks show that some inflections 
are more closely connected with the structure of propositions 
than others. The signs of mood are more a matter of logic 
than the signs of gender. The only inflections that, in so 
short a treatise as the present, require particular notice are, a. 
The persons of verbs, b. Certain cases. 

THEPERSONSOFVERBS. 

§ 410. An inflection that expresses a subject is called a 
Person. In the Latin language, the combination v o c 
means call. In the same language. 



Voc-o = J call. 
YoG-as = thou, Goll-est. 
Yoc-at =IIe call-5. 



Voc-amus=TFe call. 

Voc-atis =ye call. 

Voc-ant = They call. 
In all these examples the terminations -o, -as, -at, etc., 
serve instead of the pronouns J, thou, he, etc., which are not 
necessary to the construction. This inflection is pre-emi- 
nently logical, inasmuch as the grammatical element -o, etc., 
stands as an equivalent to the logical element called the 
subject. 

CERTAIN OBLIQUE CASES. 

§ 411. Modifications in the form of a noun, that are equiv- 



456 LOGICAL FORMS. 

alent to the introduction of a preposition, always constitute 
a case-inflection, or simply a case. Case-inflections show 
the relation that one noun bears to another ; and this is pre- 
cisely what is done by prepositions. Thus, the father^s son 
= the son of the father ; in other words, the inflection -s 
is equivalent to the preposition of 

Hence, whatever inflection takes the place of a preposition 
is called a Case. The genitive, dative, and ablative, instru- 
mental, and some of the rarer cases, are of this kind. The 
nominative, vocative, and accusative cases are not so. That 
this difference between what may be called the prepositional 
and the non-prepositional cases is a real one, is shown by the 
greater extent to which the genitive and dative cases retain 
their signs throughout the changes of language, as compared 
with the nominative, accusative, and vocative. 

Many inflections represent (perhaps are) single words. 
Thus the -o in voc-o, or the -s in fathers, may once have 
been separate words, which afterward coalesced with the re- 
spective crude forms voc and father. This is a fact which 
accounts for the difference between the logic and the gram- 
mar of a proposition, not one which denies its existence. 
However much the -5 in father may have been a true prep- 
osition at one time, it is not so now. Similarly, what was 
once a preposition may at an earlier period still have been a 
noun. The philology which reduces all parts of speech 
to the noun and verb, however true in history, is false in 
Logic- — See Latham. 

TRIFLING PROPOSITIONS. 

^ § 412. Trifling Propositions are those in which the re- 
lation of the Predicate to the Subject is such that to connect 
the one with the other is to assert little or nothing. They 
have the grammatical structure of a proposition, but not the 
logical force of an assertion. 

Under the head of such propositions we may class, (1.) 
All identical propositions, namely, those in which the predi- 
cate is the sa^ne as the subject ; as, "A triangle is a trian- 
gle." (2.) Those in which it is a synonym of it; as, ''to 
pardon is to forgive." Akin to these is the enunciation of 



UELATION OF CERTAIN LOGICAL FORMS, ETC. 457 

truths that are so obvious as to be truisms ; as, '' Man is 
rational." 

Sometimes, however, identical propositions in form are not 
trifling propositions, as when an emphasis is thrown upon the 
copula or the predicate ; as, " Home is home ;" '^ I am that 
I am." 

THE RELATION OF CERTAIN LOGICAL FORMS TO CER- 
TAIN STATES OF THE MIND. 

§ 413. Human Language is but a transcript of the vari- 
ous states of the human mind in its various movements. 
Logical forms are but an exhibition of the movements of the 
mind when employed in reasoning. 

§ 414. As a preliminary statement, the following extract 
from Whately's '« Logic" may be useful in showing the con- 
nection between language and the mind. 

" I. There are three operations (or states) of the mind 
which are immediately concerned in argument : 1st. Simple 
Apprehension ; 2d. Judgment ; 3d. Discourse or Reasoning. 

" 1st. Simple Apprehension (mere apprehension) is that 
act or condition of the mind in which it receives a notion of 
any object, and is analogous to the perception of the senses. 
It is either complex or incomplex. Incomplex apprehension 
is of one object or of several, without any relation being per- 
ceived between them, as oi ' a man,'' ' a horse,'' '- cards.' 
Complex is of several, with such a relation, as '' of a man on 
horseback,^ ' a pack of cards.' 

" 2d. Judgment is the comparing together in the mind two 
of the notions (or ideas) which are the objects of apprehen- 
sion, whether complex or incomplex, and pronouncing that 
they agree or disagree with each other (or that one of them 
belongs or does not belong to the other) ; judgment is, there- 
fore, either affirmative or negative. 

*' 3d. Reasoning (or discourse) is the act of proceeding from 
one judgment to another, founded upon that one (or the re- 
sult of it). 

" II. Language affords the signs by which these opera- 
tions of the mind are expressed and communicated. The 
notion obtained in an act of apprehension is called, when ex- 



458 LOGICAL FORMS. 

pressed in language, a tenn; an act oi judgment is expressed 
by a Proposition; an act of reasoning by an argument 
(which, when regularly expressed, is a syllogism)." See 
§416. 



CHAPTER V. 

ARGUMENT. 

§ 415. Thus far we have dealt with Terms as expressing 
the simple apprehension of the mind, and Assertions as ex- 
pressing an act of Judgment ; we now proceed to the subject of 
Argument as expressing the act of Reasoning. Every Argu- 
ment consists of two parts : that ivhich is proved^ and that 
by means of which it is proved ; the former, before it is 
proved, is called the question; when proved, the conclusion; 
that which is used to prove it, if stated last, is called the 
reason^ and is introduced by the conjunction " because,'''' or 
some other causal conjunction ; as, '' Csesar deserved death 
because he was a tyrant." If the conclusion be stated last, 
which is the strict logical form, then that which is employed 
to prove it is called the premiss, and the conclusion is intro- 
duced by some illative, as therefore ; as, " Caesar was a 
tyrant, therefore he deserved death." 

Arguments thus stated, without the third proposition, 
which is in a syllogism, are called Enthymemes. See § 420. 
*' We are dependent, therefore we should be humble." Here 
the major premiss is suppressed. 

SYLLOGISM. ' - 

§ 416. A Syllogism is an argument so expressed that the 
conclusiveness of it is manifest from the mere form of ex- 
pression alone, independently of the meaning of the words ; 
as, every X is Y ; Z is X ; therefore Z is Y. If the premisses are 
assumed to be true, the conclusion must follow. The Prem- 
isses here are, 1. Every X is Y, which is the Major Premiss ; 



SYLLOGISM. 



459 



2. Z is X, which is the Minor Premiss. Z is Y, is the con- 
clusion. 

Let X, Y, and Z stand for any terms whatever^ the conclu- 
sion must follow from the very form of the expression, ac- 
cording to the following general statement : 

1. Any thing whatever (as Y) affirmed of a ivhole class 
(asX), 

2. Under which class something else (as Z) is compre- 
hended, 

3. May be affirmed of that (namely, Z) which is so com- 
prehended. 

§ 417. 1. Every Syllogism must have three^ and only three^ 
Terms ; viz., the Middle term, and the two terms of the Con- 
clusion or Question. Of these, 1. The subject of the con- 
clusion is called the minor term ; 2. Its predicate, the major 
term ; and, 3. The middle term is that with which each of 
the others is separately compared, in order to judge of their 
agreement or disagreement with each other. Thus, in the 
syllogism in the preceding section, Z is the minor term, Y 
is the major term, and X is the middle term. 

2. Every Syllogism must have three, and only three, Prop- 
ositions ; viz., 1. The Major Premiss, in which the major 
term is compared with the middle ; 2. The Minor Premiss, 
in which the minor term is compared with the middle ; and, 

3. The Conclusion, in which the minor term is compared with 
the major. 

1st Canon. — Two terms which agree with one and the 
same third, may be pronounced to agree with each other. 

2d Canon. — Two terms whereof one agrees and the other 
disagrees with one and the same third, may be pronounced 
to disagree with each other. 

When two Terms are brought together as subject and 
predicate of a proposition, they are described in technical lan- 
guage as agreeing or disagreeing with each other, accord- 
ing as the one is affirmed or denied of the other. The for- 
mer of these canons applies to affirmative, the latter to nega- 
tive propositions. 



46 LOGICAL FORMS. 



EXERCISE. 

Point out the three Propositions in each of the following 
Syllogisms, and name them ; also each Subject, Predicate, 
and Copula ; also the Major term, the Minor term, and the 
Middle term ; 

1. 2. 3. 4. 

AllBisC; NoBisC; All B is C ; No B is C ; 

All A is B ; All A is B ; Some A is B ; Some A is B ; 

Therefore Therefore Therefore Therefore 

All A is C. No A is C. Some A is C. Some A is not C. 

1. Every dispensation of Providence is beneficial ; 
Afflictions are dispensations of Providence ; 
Therefore they are beneficial. 

2. No predaceous animals are ruminant ; 
The lion is a predaceous animal ; 
Therefore the lion is not ruminant. 

3. All tyrants deserve death ; 
Caesar was a tyrant ; 
Therefore he deserved death. 

4. No one who lives on terms of confidence with another 

is justified in killing him ; 
• ' Brutus lived on terms of confidence with Caesar ; 
Brutus, then, was not justified in killing Caesar. 

§ 418. The Mode of a Syllogism is the designation of the 
three Propositions it contains (in the order in which they 
stand), according to their respective Quantity and Quality; 
that is, according as each proposition is universal or particu- 
lar, affirmative or negative. 

§ 419. The Figure of a Syllogism is the situation of the 
Middle term in the two premisses respectively with relation 
to the two Extremes (or Terms) of the conclusion, namely, 
the Major and Minor terms. 

Let X be the Middle term, Y the Major term, and Z the 
Minor term. 

In the First Figure the Middle term is made the Subject 
of the Major premiss, and the predicate of the Minor ; as, 
Every X is Y ; Z is X ; therefore Z is Y. 



THE ENTHYMEME. 



461 



All electrical phenomena (X) are measurable (Y) ; 

Magnetism (Z) is an Electrical phenomenon (X) ; 

Therefore it (Z) is measurable (Y). 

Here the middle term is less extensive than the rpajor, and 
more extensive than the minor. 

In the Second Figure the Middle term is the Predicate of 
each Premiss. In this none but negative conclusions can.be 
proved, since one of the premisses must be negative^ in order 
that the Middle term may be (by being the predicate of a 
Negative) distributed ; as, No Y is X ; Z is X ; therefore Z is 
notY. 

The nervous fluid will not travel along a tied nerve ; 

Electricity will travel along a tied nerve ; 

Therefore Electricity is not the nervous fluid. 

Here the Middle term is more extensive than the major or 
the minor term. 

In the Third Figure the Middle term is the Subject of 
each premiss. In this Figure none but particular conclusions 
can follow ; as, Every X is Y ; every X is Z; therefore some 
ZisY. 

All virtuous men are conscientious ; 

All virtuous men are happy ; 

Therefore some who are happy are conscientious. 

Here the Middle term, " virtuous men," is less extensive 
than either the major or the minor term. 

The Fourth Figure (Y is X ; X is Z ; therefore Z is Y) 
is omitted by some Logicians as awkward and unnecessary. 

THE ENTHYMEME. 

§ 420. An Enthymeme is a syllogism with one premiss 
suppressed. It is an abridged form of an argument. This 
is the ordinary form of speaking and writing. 

exercise. 

Draw out the following Enthymemes into regular syllo- 
gisms : 

1. Csesar was a tyrant, therefore he deserved death. 

2. The Epicureans can not be regarded as true philoso- 
phers, for they did not reckon virtue as a good in itself. 



462 LOGICAL FORMS. 

3. Some reviewers do not refrain from condemning books 
'^hich they have not read ; they are, therefore, not candid. 

4. How can ye believe who receive honor one of another ? 

RHETORICAL ENTHYMEME. 

§ 421. The Ehetorical Enthymeme is a sentence which 
contains the materials of a syllogism, but does not itself fur- 
nish a legitimate conclusion. The concurrence of several de- 
fective syllogisms of this sort are equivalent to a demonstra- 
tive one. In the investigation of the authorship of the Let- 
ters of Junius, the following defective Enthymemes have been 
employed, which, taken together, form a strong case : 

The author of '' Junius" wrote a particular hand ; 
Sir Philip Francis wrote the same kind of hand ; 
Therefore Sir Philip Francis is the author of " Junius." 

The author of "Junius" made certain mistakes in correct- 
ing proof-sheets ; 
Sir Philip Francis made the same mistakes ; 
Therefore Sir Philip Francis is the author of " Junius." 

The author of '' Junius" had a particular style ; 

Sir Philip Francis had the same style ; 

Therefore Sir Philip Francis is the author of '' Junius." 

The author of "Junius" is guilty of an anomalous use of 

certain words ; 
Sir Philip Francis is guilty of the same ; 
Therefore Sir Philip Francis is the author of " Junius." 

The author of " Junius" employs certain images ; 

Sir Philip Francis employs the same ; 

Therefore Sir Philip Francis is the author of " Junius." 

The author of " Junius" ceased to write at a particular 

time ; 
Sir Philip Francis must have ceased to write at the same 

time ; 
Therefore Sir Philip Francis is the author of " Junius." 

CONDITIONAL SYLLOGISMS. 

§ 422. In a conditional Proposition there are two mem- 



SORITES. 453 

bers (categorical propositions), whereof one is asserted to de- 
pend on the other. That on which the other depends is called 
the Antecedent ; that which depends on this, the Consequent ; 

Antecedent. Consequent. "^ 

as, If '' this man is a murderer ^"^ '•''lie deserves death?^ The 
Antecedent being assumed to be true, the Consequent is grant- 
ed as true also. And this may be considered in two points 
of view : 1st. Allowing that the antecedent is true, the Con- 
sequent must be true ; 2d. Supposing the Antecedent were 
true, the Consequent would be true. Hence there are two 
kinds of conditional syllogisms, namely, the Constructive and 
the Destructive. If A is B, X is Y. Let this be the Ma- 
jor Premiss. Then if you add, but A is B, therefore X is 
Y, this forms a Constructive Syllogism. If you say X is not 
Y, therefore A is not B, this is a Destructive Syllogism. 
Thus, " If this river has tides, the sea into which it flows 
must have tides;" then, if I add, *' this river has tides," it 
follows, in conclusion, " that the sea into which it flows has 
tides," which is a Constructive Syllogism. If I add, " the sea 
into which it flows has not tides," it follows that " this river 
has not tides," which is a Destructive Syllogism. 

SORITES. 

§ 423. Sorites is a series of Arguments in which the con- 
clusion of each is made the premiss of the next. 

EXERCISE. 

1. A is B ; B is C ; C is D ; D is E ; .-. A is E. 

2. The Epicurean Deities are without action j 
Without action there is no virtue ; 
Without virtue there is no happiness ; 

The Epicurean Deities are therefore without happiness. 

3. Wilkes was a favorite with the populace ; 

He who is a favorite with the populace must know how 
to manage them ; 

He who knows how to manage them must well under- 
stand their character ; 

He who well understands their character must hold them 
in contempt : 



464 LOGICAL FORMS. 

Wilkes must, therefore, have held the populace in con- 
tempt. 

DILEMMA. 

§ 424. Dilemma is an argument equally conclusive by con- 
trary suppositions. It implies a double antecedent : 

1. If you have in the major premiss several antecedents^ 
all with the same consequent, then these Antecedents, being 
(in the minor) disjunctively granted (z. e., it being granted 
that some one of them is true), the one common consequent 
may be inferred. 

If A is B, C is D ; if X is Y, C is D ; but either A is 
B, or X is Y ; therefore C is D. If *' the blessed in heaven 
have no desires, they will be perfectly content ; so they will 
if their desires are fully gratified ; but either they will have 
no desires, or have them fully gratified ; therefore they will 
be perfectly content." 

2. But if the several antecedents have each a different 
consequent.) then the Antecedents being, as before, disjunct- 
ively granted, you can only disjunctively infer the conse- 
quents. If A is B, C is D ; and if X is Y, E is F ; but ei- 
ther A is B, or X is Y ; therefore, either C is D, or E is F. 
*' If ^schines joined in the public rejoicings, he is inconsist- 
ent; if he did not join, he is unpatriotic; but he either joined 
or not, therefore he is either inconsistent or unpatriotic." 

3. "When you have several Antecedents, with each a dif- 
ferent consequent, which consequents, instead of wholly de- 
nying, you disjunctively deny, then, in the Conclusion, you 
deny disjunctively the Antecedents. If A is B, C is D ; if 
X is Y, E is F ; but either C is not D, or E is not F ; 
therefore, either A is not B, or X is not Y. "If this man 
were wise, he would not speak irreverently of Scripture in 
jest ; and if he were good, he would not do so in earnest ; 
but he does it either in jest or in earnest ; therefore he is ei- 
ther not wise or not good." 

In the first we have the simple constructive dilemma ; in 
the second, the complex constructive ; in the third, the de- 
structive. Every Dilemma may be reduced into two or more 
simple conditional syllogisms. 



DILEMMA. 435 

This kind of Argument was urged by the opponents of Don 
Carlos, the pretender to the Spanish throne, which he claimed 
as heir-male, against his niece the Queen, by virtue of the 
Salic law excluding females, which was established (contrary 
to the ancient Spaniuh usage) by a former King of Spain, and 
was repealed by King Ferdinand. They say, '' If a King of 
Spain has a right to alter the law of succession, Carlos has 
no claim ; and if no King of Spain has that right, Carlos has 
no claim ; but a King of Spain either has or has not such 
right ; therefore (on either supposition) Carlos has no claim." 

ANALOGY. 

§ 425. Analogical Propositions are those of which one 
asserts a Principle manifesting itself in a given set of cir- 
cumstances, while the other asserts the same principle as 
manifested in all circumstances, or, more commonly, in a dif- 
ferent set of circumstances. And an Argument from Anal- 
ogy is a direct and unconditional inference of one of these two. 
latter propositions from the first. For example, from the 
principle expressed in the proposition, ^' By speaking ill, men 
learn to speak ill," may be inferred, by analogy, the two 
following Propositions : 

By speaking, men learn to be able to speak. . 

By speaking well, men learn to be able to speak well. 

DEDUCTION, INDUCTION, AND EXAMPLE. 

§ 426. Deduction is the process of reasoning from a gen- 
eral principle to a particular case. Induction is the process of 
reasoning from particular cases to a general principle. Ex- 
ample is the process of reasoning from one particular case to 
another. 

It is absurd to choose by lot an officer in whom skill is 

needed; 
It is, therefore, absurd to choose a general by lot. 
Here we have a specimen of Deductive reasoning. 

It is absurd to choose by lot a musician, architect, pilot, or 

physician ; 
It is, therefore, absurd to choose by lot an officer in whom 
skill is needed. 
Here we have a specimen of Indnciive reasoning. 

Gg 



466 LOGICAL FORMS. 

It is absurd to choose a pilot by lot ; 
It is, therefore, absurd to choose a general by lot. 
Here we have a specimen of reasoning from Example, 

FALLACY. 

§ 427. A Fallacy is a deceptive or unsound argument, 
by which a man is convinced, or endeavors to convince oth- 
ers, of what is not really proved. 

THE UNDISTRIBUTED MIDDLE. 

§ 428. White is a color Every X is Y ; 

Black is a color ; therefore . . . Every Z is Y ; 
Black is white •. Every X is Z. 

" Some animals are beasts ; 
Some animals are birds ; therefore 
Some birds are beasts." 

The fallacy of the reasoning in these two syllogisms is evi- 
dent. The middle term is not distributed. It is a rule that 
the middle term must be distributed once at least in the 
premisses (i. e., by being the subject of an universal, or predi- 
cate of a negative. See § 391), and once is sufficient; 
since if one extreme has been compared to a part of the mid- 
dle term, and another to the whole of it, they must have both 
been compared to the same. 

If the middle term is ambiguous, there are in reality two 
middle terms in sense, though but one in sound. An am- 
biguous middle term is either an equivocoA term used in dif- 
ferent senses in the two premisses, e. g'., 

Light is contrary to darkness ; 

Feathers are light; therefore 

Feathers are contrary to darkness, 
or a term not distributed. 

ILLICIT PROCESS. 

§ 429. No term must be distributed in the conclusion 
which was not distributed in one of the premisses, for that 
would be to employ the whole of a term in the conclusion, 



FALLACIES. 467 

when you had employed only a part of it in the premiss ; e. g.^ 
in the following there is an illicit process of the major term : 

All quadrupeds are animals Every Y is Z; 

, A bird is not a quadruped ; therefore . . No X is Y ; 

A bird is not an animal •. No X is Z. 

In the following there is an '' illicit process of the minor 
term :" 

All independent persons deserve the elective suffrage ; 

Englishmen are independent persons ; therefore 

They deserve the elective suffrage. 

If this Conclusion is proved, the minor premiss must im- 
ply that All Englishmen are independent. But this is not 
the case ; and therefore the Argument is fallacious from the 
insufficient Induction of the Minor premiss. 

NEGATIVE PREMISSES, 

§ 430. A Fish is not a quadruped No X is Y ; 

A Bird is not a quadruped No Z is Y ; 

Therefore a Fish is not a bird . . .-. No X is Z. 
Here both premisses being negative, the middle is not said 
to agree with either of the other terms. 

PETITIO PRINCIPII. 

§ 431. Petitio Principii is a name given to those falla- 
cies in which the premiss appears manifestly to be the same 
as the conclusion, or else is actually proved from the con- 
clusion ; as, To attempt to prove the existence of God from 
the Bible, when the Bible, since it professes to be a revelation 
from him, assumes his existence ; or as when you prove the 
necessity of regeneration from the depravity of man, and 
then prove the depravity of man from the necessity of re- 
generation. This is arguing in a circle, and is sometimes 
called begging the question. In all cases of this kind there 
is an unduly assumed premiss. 

IGNORATIO ELENCHI. 

§ 432. Ignoratio Elenchi, or irrelevant conclusion. This 
fallacy consists in substituting for the legitimate conclusion 
one that resembles it j as, Cleon urged the justice of putting 



468 LOGICAL FORMS. 

certain revolters to death. Diodotus remarked, in reply, that 
this was nothing to the purpose, since the Athenians were not 
sitting in judgment, but in deliberation, of which the proper 
end is expediency. 

EXAMPLES OF FALLACIES. 

§ 433. 1. Projectors are unfit to be trusted ; this man has 
formed a project ; therefore he is unfit to be trusted. This 
coming under the head of an ambiguous middle is what is 
called Fallacia figurse Dictionis. It is built on the Gram- 
matical structure of language, from men usually taking for 
granted that Paronymous words, i. e., those belonging to 
each other, as the substantive, adjective, verb, &c., of the 
same root, have a precisely corresponding meaning, which is 
by no means universally the case. 

2. A sophist persuades the multitude that a member of 
the House of Commons is bound to be guided in all points 
by the opinion of his constituents, and, in short, to be merely 
their spokesman ; whereas law and custom, which may be 
regarded as fixing the meaning of the Term, require no such 
thing, but enjoin the representative to act according to the 
best of his own judgment, and on his own responsibility. 
The fallacy of this opinion rests on the fact that the Ety- 
mological meaning of the word represent is not the same with 
its customary meaning. 

3. Three and two are two numbers; five is three and two; 
therefore five is two numbers. Here three and two are am- 
biguous, signifying, in the Major premiss, «< taken distinctly;" 
in the Minor, '' taken together." 

4. Whatever is universally believed is true ; the existence 
of God is not universally believed ; therefore it is not true. 
Here the fallacy consists in an '' illicit process of the major 
terjai." 

5. ''What is bought in the market is eaten; raw meat 
is bought in the market ; therefore raw meat is eaten." Here 
we have the fallacia accidentis. The middle term is used 
in one premiss (the major) to signify something considered 
simply in itself ; in the other premiss (the minor), to signify 
that its accidents are taken into account with. 



FALLACIES. 



469 



6. "To allow every man an unbounded freedom must 
always be, on the whole, advantageous to the State ; for it 
is highly conducive to the interests of the Community that 
each individual should enjoy a liberty, perfectly unlimited, of 
expressing his sentiments." Here we have the fallacy of the 
petitio principii. In the latter part of the sentence, the 
very point is assumed as proof which is asserted in the first 
part ; in other words, the premiss and the conclusion are 
identical. The English language is, perhaps, the more suit- 
able for the fallacy of the petitio principii^ from its being 
framed from two distinct languages, and thus abounding in 
synonymous expressions which have no resemblance in sound 
and no connection in etymology, so that a Sophist may bring 
forward a proposition expressed in words of Saxon origin, and 
give as a reason for it the very same proposition stated in 
words of Norman origin, as in the above example. 

7. The Royal Society were imposed on, by being asked to 
account for the fact that a vessel of water received no addi- 
tion to its weight by a live fish put into it ; while they were 
seeking for the cause, they forgot to ascertain the /ac^, and 
thus admitted without suspicion a mere fiction. In this case 
the fallacy consists of an undue assumption of a premiss. 



PART VI. 

SYNTACTICAL FORMS IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 



CHAPTER I. 

DEFINITIONS. 

§ 434. Syntax, from the Greek gvv, with, rd^ig, arrange'' 
mefit, treats of the arrangement and combination of words in 
propositions and sentences. This arrangement and combi- 
nation of words constitute Syntactical Forms. 

Etymology deals with the forms of single words, Syntax 
with Groups of words. Etymology, by the analysis of prop- 
ositions and sentences, teaches the office and power of the 
different parts of speech. Syntax teaches how, by synthesis, 
to combine the different parts of speech together in proposi- 
tions and sentences, according to the laws of the language. 
In Etymology the parts of speech are determined, as we have 
seen, by the structure of propositions. A word is a Substan- 
tive, or an Adjective, or a Pronoun, or a Verb, an Adverb, a 
Preposition, a Conjunction, or an Interjection, according either 
to the place which it takes in a proposition or the relation it 
bears to one. And in Syntax, the rules for composing sen- 
tences in which words are properly grouped together have, 
for the most part, a distinct bearing upon the proposition in 
some of its various forms. 

So closely connected is Grammar with Logic, the former 
having originally grown out of the latter, that a thorough 
knowledge of syntactical forms can not be acquired without 
a knowledge of certain logical forms and logical terms. Part 
Fifth of this work is, therefore, to be viewed as strictly sub- 
sidiary and preparatory to Part Sixth. To that part the 
student is referred especially for the Definition of such 
Names as Terms, Simple Terms, Complex Terms, Prop- 
osition, Complex Proposition, Compound Proposition. 

§ 435. Sentences may consist either of one proposition, 



DEFINITIONS, 47 | 

or of two or more propositions connected together. A sen- 
tence consisting of one proposition is called a Simple Sentence ; 
as, <' I study my lesson." A sentence consisting of two or 
more propositions is called a Compound Sentence; as, "In- 
dustry procures a competence, and frugality preserves it." 

Sentences are Declarative ; as, " I am writing." InterrQg- 
ative ; as, "Where am I?" Imperative; as, "Be quiet." 
Conditional ; as, "If he should grieve." Exclamatory ; as, 
" O wretched man that I am !" For a more full account of 
sentences, see § 571. 

§ 436. Concord is the agreement which one word has with 
another in Gender, Number, Case, or Person. 

§ 437. Government is that power which one word has over 
another in directing its Mode, Tense, or Case. 

§ 438. Convertibility. — In Syntax, one part of speech is 
often used for another, and may, therefore, be said to be con- 
vertible, as in this example. To err is human = error is hu- 
man. The combination to err is an Infinitive verb, and yet 
it is converted from its primary use into a noun. In like 
manner, the Participle is used as a substantive ; as, Erring 
is dangerous ^= error is dangerous. The Adjective is con- 
verted into a Substantive ; as. The evils of life ; the goods 
of fortune. So an Adverb, a Preposition, or a Conjunction 
can be used for a noun; as, One long now = present time: 
He said from, not to ; none of your ifs. In these exam- 
ples, now, from, and if are used as Substantives. In like 
manner, a preposition can be converted into an Adjective ; as, 
A through ticket. 

§ 439. Grammatical Equivalents. — When one phrase or 
word can take the place of another phrase or word in a sen- 
tence, without materially changing the meaning of the sen- 
tence, it is a Grammatical equivalent of the other : To err 
is human -terror is human. See § 581. 

§ 440. The Grammatical Subject is the same as the 
Logical Subject, when the latter is a simple term or single 
word; as, " God is great." Here the Grammatical subject 
of the verb is and the Logical subject are the same, namely, 
God. When the Logical subject is complex, and made up 
of a combination of words, the Grammatical subject is the 



472 SYNTACTICAL FORMS. 

leading word in that combination. " Alexander, the son of 
Philip, was the conqueror of Darius." Here Alexander, the 
son of Philip, is the Logical subject, being a complex term ; 
and Alexander, the leading word, is the Grammatical sub- 
ject. Alexander, who conquered Darius, was the son of 
Philip. Here Alexander, who conquered Darius, is the Log- 
ical subject, and Alexander is the Grammatical subject. 
The Grammatical subject is either a Noun or some word 
standing for a noun. The Logical subject consists of the 
Grammatical subject and its various modifications. 

§ 441. The Grammatical Predicate (Latin Predicare^ 
to assert) is the same as the Logical Predicate, when the 
Logical Predicate is contained in a common verb^ or when 
the Logical predicate is a simple term or single word; as, 
"He runsf ''he is an orator;''^ "he is wiseP Here the 
Grammatical predicates are the same as the Logical predi- 
cates. But when the Logical predicate is a complex term, 
and made up of a combination of words, the Grammatical 
predicate is the leading word in that combination ; as, " The 
Scriptures are worthy of our confidence." Here worthy of 
our confidence is the Logical Predicate, and worthy is the 
Grammatical Predicate. 

The Grammatical predicate is contained in a common verb 
which also contains the copula ; or else is a Noun or an Ad- 
jective, or what stands for a noun or an adjective, with the 
Substantive verb as a copula. A Logical predicate is the 
Grammatical predicate with its modifications. See § 381. 

Of a subject we may predicate, 1. An action; as, "He 
lovesP 2. A quality ; as, " Gold is heavy P 3. Identity ; 
as, Iron is a mineral. In these three cases there is, in the 
first, a verb; in the second, an adjective; in the third, a 
substantive. 

FIGURES OF SYNTAX. 

§ 442. I. Ellipsis, Greek lXku'\\)iq, an omission, is the 
omission of some word or words in a sentence necessary to 
a full and regular construction ; as, " The heroic virtues I 
admire :" which is here omitted. " He (Marat) three times 
changed the title of his journal, its spirit never." 



DEFINITIONS. 



473 



II. Pleonasm, Greek ixXeovaoiiog^ fullness, is a redundancy 
of words : " Never did Atticus succeed better in gaining the 
universal esteem and love of all menP Here universal is 
redundant, or ^Ae and of all men are redundant. 

III. Enallage, Greek lvaXkayi\, change, is the use of one 
gender, number, case, person, tense, mood, or voice for another ; 
as, " He begun to write," for " he began to write." 

IV. Zeugma, Greek ^evyiia, a joining, is a figure by which 
an adjective or verb which is put in construction with a nearer 
word is, by way of supplement, referred to one more remote ; 
as, " They wear a garment like that of the Scythians, but a 
language peculiar to themselves." 

V. Hyperbaton, Greek vnep6aTov, transgression, is the 
transposition of words ; as, " All price beyond." 

VI. Hypallage, Greek vna?.Xayrj, change, is an inter- 
change of construction ; as, '^ His coward lips did from their 
color fly,''^ instead of " the color did fly from his coward 
lipsP 

VII. Anastrophe, Greek dvGcrrpo<^?J, inversion, is a figure 
of Hyperbaton, by which we place last, and perhaps at a great 
distance, what, according to the common order, should have 
been placed first. The beginning of Paradise Lost is an ex- 
ample of that figure : 

" Of man's first disobedience, and the fruit 
Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste 
Brought death into the world and all our woe, 
With loss of Eden, till one greater man 
Restore us and regain the blissful seat ; 
Sing, heavenly Muse !" 

The natural order of the words in this passage is. Heavenly 
muse, sing of man's first disobedience, &o. 

VII. Hysteron Proteron, Greek varepov, latter, TrporspoVi 
former, is a figure by which that which is first done is last 
mentioned ; as, " He was bred and born in Boston ;^^ " Our 
father is in good health; he is yet alive.''^ 

EXERCISES. 

§ 443. Point out first the Logical Subject and Predicate, 
and then the Grammatical Subject and Predicate in each of 
the following sentences : 



474 SYNTACTICAL FORMS. 

The intellect of the wise is like glass ; it admits the light 
of heaven, and reflects it. 

A speech being a matter of adaptation, and having to win 
opinions, should contain a little for the few, and a great deal 
for the many. 

The virtue of paganism was strength ; the virtue of Chris- 
tianity is obedience. 

Beauty is perfection unmodified by a predominating ex- 
pression. 

Knowledge is the parent of love ; wisdom, love itself. 

Nature is mighty ; Art is mighty ; Artifice is weak ; for 
Nature is the work of a mightier power than man. Art is 
the work of man, under the guidance and inspiration of a 
mightier power. Artifice is the work of mere man in the 
imbecility of his mimic understanding. 

§ 444. Give names and definitions of the following Figures 
in Syntax : 

We speak that we know. 

His genteel and agreeable manners have made him a uni- 
versal favorite of every body. 

Air blackeiied, rolled the thunder, groaned the ground. 

When first thy sire to send on earth 

Virtue, his darling child, designed. _ i 

He gave the reins to his horse and his fury. 

He is well and alive. 

The skipping king — he ambled up and down. 



CHAPTER II. 

SYNTAX OF THE SUBSTANTIVE. 



NOMINATIVE CASE. 

§ 445. Rule I. — A Noun used either as the Subject or the 
Predicate of a finite verb is in the Nominative Case ; as, 
^^Man reasons;" "Ae is the architect of his own character." 



THE SUBSTANTIVE. 475 

What is peculiar to the Pronoun is given under the rules 
for the Pronoun. The leading rules under the noun apply 
also to Pronouns. The words Subject and Predicate, with- 
out a qualifying epithet, are in Syntax generally used in the 
Grammatical sense, though the Logical sense is the primary 
one. 

Note 1. A Noun, used in Direct Address, is in the nom- 
inative case ; as, '< Oh Judgment, thou art fled to brutish 
beasts !" " John, come hither." This last example is equiv- 
alent to the vocative case in the Latin Language. 

Note 2. A Noun with a Participle, used Independently of 
the Grammatical construction into which it logically enters, 
is in the nominative case ; as, '' He being dead, we shall 
live ;" '' the king having arrived, the soldiers were drawn 
up in battle array." 

Originally, in the Anglo-Saxon, nouns thus standing Inde- 
pendently or absolutely were in the Dative ; as. Up a sprun- 
genre sunnan^=the sun having arisen. Him also, in the 
Anglo-Saxon, was in the dative. This would seem to justify 
the phraseology in Milton, " and him destroyed, or won to 
what may work his utter loss." In other cases, Milton con- 
formed to the rule just given ; as, *' Whose gray top shall 
tremble, he descending.''^ 

A noun and a participle thus used in the nominative abso- 
lute form is an abridged sentence, and may be introduced 
into the general construction by the proper conjunction or ad- 
verb ; as, " The two armies being thus employed, Cselius be- 
gan to publish several violent and odious laws." The nom- 
inative Absolute in this sentence can be resolved into the fol- 
lowing Grammatical equivalent : " While the two armies 
were thus employed, Cselius began to publish several violent 
and odious laws." 

Note 3. A Nominative without its intended Verb some- 
times occurs in a certain abrupt mode of writing ; as, " These 
men — how I detest them !" The first words being the sub- 
ject of discourse when uttered awaken such strong feeling in. 
the mind of the speaker, that he quits the trammels of a 
formal arrangement, and leaves the nominative without a 
verb. In expressions like the following there is a Pleonasm . 



476 SYNTACTICAL FORMS. 

" Your fathers^ where are they ? and the prophets^ do they 
live forever ?" 

A Noun without a verb is sometimes found in Exclama- 
tory sentences : " But, oh their end^ their dreadful end /" 

"A steed! a steed of matchless speed, 
A sword of metal keene ! 
All else to noble hearts is drosse, 

All else on earth is meane." — Mothehwell. 

Note 4. Nouns used as Titles of books, and Names of 
Places and of Persons, are very often in the nominative with- 
out a verb ; as, '' Chambers's Cyclopgedia ;" " The Astor 
House." These expressions are elliptical. 

Note 5. In Poetry, a Noun in the nominative without a 
verb may sometimes be found, chiefly in those cases where 
the omitted verb would express an Address or Answer ; as, 
" To whom the monarch ;" that is, said or replied. 

Note 6. A Noun in the nominative case without a verb 
is very frequently found in the Answer to a Question ; as, 
<^Who invented the Electro-magnetic Telegraph?" Morse. 

COLLOCATION. 

§ 446. The Subject Nominative generally precedes, the 
Predicate Nominative generally follows the verb, as above. 
To this rule there are exceptions : 

1. In Interrogative, Exclamatory, and Imperative sen- 
tences ; as, '' How many apples have (Sub.) you .^" " What 
(Pred.) beautiful apples those are I" "Give (Sub.) thou 
those apples." 

2. When the subjunctive mode suppresses the conjunc- 
tion if ox though; as, "Were (Sub.) it true, I should re- 
joice." 

3. When neither or nor is used for and not; as, " The eye 
that saw him shall see him no more, neither shall his (Sub.) 
place any more behold him." " This was his fear, nor was 
his (Sub.) apprehension groundless." 

4. When a Neuter or a Passive verb is preceded by a prep- 
osition and its case, or by the adverbs here^ hence, these, 
thence, now, then, hereafter, thus; as, " Here was the (Sub.) 
tomh.^'' &c. 



THE SUBSTANTIVE. 477 

5. After such verbs as, to say^ to think; "Trim, said 
my (Sub.) uncle TohyP 

6. When the sentence begins with an emphatic Adjective ; 
as, " "Wonderful are thy (Sub.) worksP 

POSSESSIVE OR GENITIVE CASE. 

§ 447. Rule II. — A Noun used to limit another noun by 
denoting Possession or Origin is put in the Possessive Case ; 
as, " Washington^ prudence saved his country." " ^olo- 
mon^s Temple was for generations the glory of Palestine." 

In the last example, Temple denotes any temple ; Solomon's 
limits it to the particular one which Solomon built. So in 
the first example, the noun prudence is limited by the noun 
Washington. 

Note 1. The limited Substantive is frequently omitted, 
that is, understood ; as, *' Let us go to St. Paul's," that is, 
church. ^' Nor think a lover's are but fancied woes ;" that 
is, a lover's woes. In these cases there is an ellipsis of the 
governing word. See figures of Syntax. In Latin, ad Di- 
ance = ad cedem Dianm. 

Note 2. When the thing possessed is the common property 
of two or more possessors, the sign of the possessive is suf- 
fixed only to the last noun ; as, '' John, Thomas, and Jamesh 
house ;" that is, a house of which the joint ownership is vest- 
ed in these three persons. 

Note 3. But when the thing possessed is the individual and 
separate property of two or more possessors, the sign of the 
possessive is suffixed to each noun ; as, " He has the Sur- 
geon^ s and the physician's opinion." 

Note 4. The possessive case may sometimes be resolved 
into the objective with the preposition of; as, ^' Napoleon's 
Army^^'' may be changed into '' The Army of NapoleonP 
This is an instance of Grammatical equivalents. Napoleon's 
army=^the army of Napoleon. But though the Saxon or 
English Genitive is often convertible into what has been 
called the Norman or the Analytic Genitive, yet in some 
cases it can not be. Thus, " the Lord's day" is the Chris- 
tian Sabbath ; '< the day of the Lord" is the day of Judgment. 
When the general relation of simple possession is intended, 



478 SYNTACTICAL FORMS. 

either may be used. But when the one substantive denotes 
merely the substance or matter^ or some quality or thing 
characteristic of the other, the Norman form is used ; as, ''A 
crown of Gold;" "a man of wisdom." These are not con- 
vertible into the English Genitive. Cloth of wool can not 
be converted into «' wooVs cloth ;" nor '' a cup of watef^ into 
watcr^s €up; nor the " idea of an AngeV^ into " an AngeVs 
idea.'''' 

Note 5. When the thing possessed is only one of a n^otm- 
her belonging to the possessor, both the possessive case and 
of are used ; as, " A friend of his brother^ s,''"' implying that 
his brother has more friends than one ; '' the picture of my 
friend) s^"* signifying that it is one of several belonging to him. 
For these we have the Grammatical equivalents : " one of 
his brother's friends ;" '^This is one of his friend's pictures." 
" This picture of my Friend" suggests a different meaning, 
namely, a likeness of my Friend 

Note 6. A Noun depending upon a Participle used as a 
noun, is put in the possessive case ; as, ^' Averse to a na- 
lion's involving itself in war." 

Note 7. Sometimes two or three words in a state of Gov- 
ernment may be dealt with as a single word in the possessive ; 
as, " The King of Saxony^ s army)^ In this expression three 
things are evident : 1. That the army is spoken of as belong- 
ing, not to the country Saxony, but to the King of that coun- 
try. 2. That the sign of the possessive naturally comes after 
the word King; as, ^' The King's army." 3. That, as the 
expression stands, the army appears to be spoken of as be- 
longing to Saxony. Yet this is not the fact. The truth is, 
that the lohole expression is dealt with as a single word. 
So we say, " Bartlett and Welford's book-store." 

Note 8. The possessive case, like the adjective, belongs to 
the attributive combination, and is often a grammatical equiv- 
alent to the adjective. The King^s cause ==the Royal cause. 
Ccesar^s party = the Ccesarean party. 

Note 9. Some ambiguity may attend expressions like the 
" love of God.'''' It may mean, objectively, '' our love to him ;" 
or, subjectively, "His love to us." The injuries of the Hel- 
vetii=the injuries done by them, subjectively, or = the in- 



THE SUBSTANTIVE. 479 

juries done to them, objeotively. ''The reformation of Lu- 
ther" denotes either the change on others, the object, or the 
change on himself, the subject. " The reformation by Lu- 
ther, or in Luther," removes the ambiguity. 

Note 10. The frequent recurrence either of the Analytic 
possessive or of the Inflective possessive should be avoided. 
See Exercises. 

Note 11. The s after the Apostrophe is omitted when the 
first noun has the sound of 5 in each of the last two syllables, 
and the second noun begins with s ; as, for righteousness^ 
sake ; for conscience'' sake. When the second noun does not 
begin with 5, the practice is various; as, "But we are Moses' 
disciples," John, ix., 28. " Again, such is his (Falstaff's) 
deliberate exaggeration of his own vices, that it does not 
seem quite certain whether the account of his hostess's bill 
found in his pocket, with such an out-of-the-way charge for 
capons and sack, with only a halfpenny worth of bread, was 
not put there by himself as a trick to humor the jest upon 
his favorite propensities, and as a conscious caricature upon 
himself." — Hazlitt's Lectures. 

When the first noun ends in 5, the s is annexed to the 
apostrophe in prose, but frequently omitted in poetry ; as, 
" James's book ;" " Miss's shoes ;" " Achilles'' wrath to Greece 
the direful spring." See § 170, 171. 

COLLOCATION. 

§ 448. In the present English, the Genitive or Possessive 
case always precedes the Noun which it limits ; as, The 
man's hat =hominis pileus ; never the ho,t man's=pileus 
hominis. 

§ 449. A substantive in ih.Q possessive case^ or under the 
government of the preposition " o/," is said, when it is in the 
genitive relation, to be joined to a substantive attributively. 
The different kinds of attributive genitive relations are, 

1. The relation of the active subject or agent to an action 
or effect: "The course of the sun." ^^Solomon's temple" 
=the temple built by Solomon ; " The march of an army.'"' 

2. The relg.tion of possessor to the thing possessed : "The 
king^s crown;" "the boy's hat;" "the garden ofthepoet.'^ 



480 SYNTACTICAL FORMS. 

3. The mutual relation of one person to another : " The 
boy^s Father ;" '' a man's Friend." 

4. The relation of a whole to its parts : ^' The top of a 
tree;'''' "the wheels of a carriage^ This relation is also 
called that of the partitive genitive. 

5. The relation of a quality to a person or thing: "A ring 
of gold f ''a man of honor ^ The genitive formed by in- 
flection, or the Saxon Genitive, is generally used to express 
the relation of the possessor, and sometimes to express the 
relation of the agent to an action and the mutual relation of 
persons. The analytic genitive, or the Norman Genitive, as 
it is sometimes called, is almost always used to express the 
relation of quality. 

THE OBJECTIVE OR ACCUSATIVE CASE. 

^450. E-uLE III. — A Noun depending on a Transitive 
verb is in the objective case ; as, " God rules the world 
which he created." The objective case is complementary to 
a Transitive verb, and is necessary to complete the sense. 

Note 1. A noun in the objective case follows an Intransi- 
tive verb when the two are kindred in Signification ; as, "To 
live a life of virtue ;" " to die the death of the righteous." 
On the same principle a transitive verb may take a second 
accusative ; as, " He struck him a severe blowy 

Note 2. Two nouns, the one denoting a Person and the 
other a Thing, each in the objective case, follow certain verbs, 
namely, verbs signifying to allow ^ ask, deny, envy, fine, give, 
offer, pay, cost, promise, send, teach, tell, and some others ; 
as, " He taught them logic f " a ring cost the purchaser an 
eagle f "I gave him the book f "he offered them his ad- 
vice^ Whom, them, and him are remains of the dative case 
in the Anglo-Saxon. In strictness, the word give, and a 
few others, govern the Dative case with the Accusative, with- 
out the preposition. In the expressions " give it to him," 
" to whom shall I give it ?" no prepositional aid is necessary. 

Will it be said that the phrase " ask him his opinion" is 
elliptical for " ask of him his opinion ?" This will hardly 
satisfy a Grammarian. According to the true idea of a 
transitive verb, him must be the object in the phrase under 



THE SUBSTANTIVE. 4gj^ 

consideration as much as in this, '' Ask him for a guinea ;'V 
or in this, <' ask him to go." 

In the following we have a variety of the same construction: 
" Did I request the Maker from my clay 
To mold me man?'' — Milton, x., 744. 

Note 3. Nouns in the objective case follov/ certain verbs 
in the Passive voice, namely, the verbs mentioned in the pre- 
ceding note as governing two objectives in the active voice ; 
as, " I was offered a lucrative situation ;^^ " I was promised 
a ship in five days ;" "I was allowed great liberty.''^ 

Note 4. A noun depending on a Preposition is in the ob- 
jective case ; as, " La Fayette in his youth came to A^nerica.''^ 

Note 5. Nouns denoting Duration of time or Extent of 
space, or. Amount of weight or number, often stand without 
a governing word in the objective case ; as, '' Jacob said, I 
will serve thee seven years for Rachel;" "A kingdiom. five 
hundred miles square ;" " A guinea weighs /jue pennyweights 
six grains;'''' ''Water ten feet deep;" "An army forty 
thousand strong." ''You have asked me news a hundred 
timesP — -Pope. In these instances, the words denoting time^ 
and space^ and number^ though not preceded by a transitive 
verb or a preposition, naturally belong to the objective combi- 
nation, and may be parsed in the objective case, just as sim- 
ilar words in the ancient Gothic languages and in the clas- 
sical were put in the accusative, as shown by the case-ending. 

Note 6. Worth not only follows the noun which it quali- 
fies, but is followed by a noun denoting price ; as, " The book 
is ivorth a dollar." 

Note 7. The objective case follows the adjectives like^ 
nigh, near, next. See § 552, 10. 

COLLOCATION. 

§ In English the Objective Case follows the verb or prep- 
osition upon which it depends. See Exceptions in § 514 
and § 552. 

APPOSITION. 

§ 451. Rule IV. — A Noun placed after another noun to 
explain it, is by Apposition put in the same case ; as, "Hope, 

Hh 



482 SYNTACTICAL FORMS. 

the star of life, never sets ;" " this sentiment is Lord Bacon's, 
the great precursor of Locke and Newton ;" "this was the 
remark of Dr. Edwards, Mm who was afterward President of 
Union College." 

Note 1, The words in apposition explain each other. If 
we say simply the Apostle, we do not sufficiently explain our- 
selves, since we may mean Peter or John. If we say simply 
Paul, we do not sufficiently explain ourselves, since we may 
mean Paul the Czar of Russia, or any one whose name is 
Paul. But if we say Paul the Apostle^ we explain what 
Paul and what Apostle is meant. Words which thus ex- 
plain each other, and are in the same case, may be said to be 
placed side by side, or to be in apposition, according to the 
meaning of the Latin word appositio. In cases of apposi- 
tion, there seems to be an ellipsis oiwho is, who tvas, and the 
like. The second noun is used attributively/, like an adjec- 
tive. The leading noun is parsed as in the nominative, pos- 
sessive, or objective case, and the following noun as in appo- 
sition with that. When a word is repeated for the sake of 
emphasis, it may be said to be in apposition ; as, " Cisterns, 
broken cisterns that can hold no water." This is, however, 
a rhetorical form. , See § 635. 

Note 2. Nouns are sometimes set in apposition to w^iat- 

EVER STANDS IN THE PLACE OF A NOUN,* aS, ^^Yotl lOritc VCry 

carelessly, a habit you must correct." Here you vmte very 
carelessly =^ you have the habit of writing carelessly. " You 
are too humane and considerate, things few people can be 
charged with."— Pope. Here the words humane and consid- 
erate suggest to the mind the same thought which humanity 
and consideration would, and accordingly the word things is 
put in apposition with them. In the following sentence, a 
noun in the Plural stands in apposition to two nouns in the 
Singular, joined by a disjunctive Conjunction : " The terms 
of our law will hardly find words that answer to them in the 
Spanish or Italian, no scanty languages." 

Note 3. The whole and its parts, or a part, are often 
found in the same case by apposition; as, ''The whole army 
fled, some one way and some another." " They love each 
other." Here each is in the nominative case in apposition 



THE SUBSTANTIVE. 433 

with they, and other is in the objective case. '' They helped 
one another." Here one is in apposition with they^ and anoth- 
er is in the objective case. 

Note 4. Two or more substantives forming one cOxMplex 
NAME, or a NAME and title, have a plural termination, and 
the sign of the possessive annexed to the last of the words ; 
as, " The Miss /SmxYAs ;" <' the two Mr. TAom^so/zs;" ^Miis 
brother John's wife ;" " John the Baptisfs head." Instead 
of the '' Miss Smiths,'''' some prefer to annex the sign of the 
plural to the first word, the " Misses Smith." In some cases 
we have the sign annexed to both, namely, the Misses Smiths. 

Note 5. When the explanatory term is Complex or long, 
or when there are more explanatory terms than one, the sign 
of the possessive is affixed to the first noun ; as, '' I called at 
Putnam'' s, the well-known publisher and bookseller." 

When a Short explanatory term is subjoined to the name, 
it matters little to w^hich the sign is applied. Usage is divid- 
ed. Thus, we may say, ''I left the parcel at Putnam the 
Bookseller's ;" or, ^' at Putnam''s the Bookseller." Analogy 
with those languages in which case-endings abound would 
lead us to say, ^^ Putnam's the Bookseller's." 

Note 6. Personal pronouns are sometimes used in apposi- 
tion, for the purpose of identifying the person of a noun ; as, 
*' We, the people of the United States." 

§ 452. Two nouns may come together though not in ap- 
position, and though neither of them is in the Genitive case ; 
as, A sun beam; a sea nymph. These are, in fact, compound 
terms, and a hyphen should be employed to connect the parts, 
or else the substantive performs the office of an adjective. 
Whether the hyphen should be used or not must depend on 
the accent. Thus, we must say Glass' -house, if we speak of 
a house for the manufacture of glass ; but we say Glass 
house, if we speak of a house made of glass. For the use 
of the hyphen, see § 738. 

EXERCISES IN THE SYNTAX OF THE SUBSTANTIVE. 

In the following examples, F. S. stands for False Syntax, 
which is to be corrected by the learner, and the rule or note 
given for its correction. C. S. stands for Correct Syntax, and 



484 SYNTACTICAL FORMS. 

the appropriate rule or note is to be given with its partic- 
ular application. The parallel marks = indicate Gram- 
matical Equivalents, which are to be given by the pupil. 

§ 453. Rule I. — Them are the books which I sent for. 
F. S. 

1. O full of all subtilty and mischief, thee child of the 
Devil. F. S. 

2. There being many other passages relative to the sub- 
ject, he refuses to make a premature decision. = 

Can the Muse, 
' Her feeble wing all damp with earthly dew, 

Soar to that bright empyreal "? = 

3. My Friends, do they now and then send a wish or a 
thought after me ? C. S. 

4. The Royal Exchange. The Duke of Wellington. C. S. 

5. Thus Satan ; and him thus the Anarch old, 
With faltering speech, and visage incomposed, 
Answered. C. S. 

6. Who first drew lightning from the sky ? Franklin. 
§ 454. Rule II. — A mother tenderness and a father's 
care are nature's gifts for man advantage. F. S. 

1. Shall I go to the President's this evening? C. S. 

2. Peter's, John's, and Andrew's occupation was that of 
fishermen. F. S. 

3. This measure gained the King as well as the people's 
approbation. F. S. 

4. England's glory he promoted. = 

5. This is a discovery of Sir Isaac Newton's. C. S. 

6. This coolness was occasioned by the Queen intercepting 
certain letters. F. S. 

7. The Bishop's of London charge gave offense. F. S. 

8. He fought for America's liberty. = 

9. The love of Christ = and = 

10. The extent of the prerogative of the King of England 
is sufficiently ascertained. F. S. 

The Father's brother's daughter. F. S. 

11. He pointed out James's son and Justus' son. C. S. 

§ 455. Rule HI. — They who he had most injured he had 
the greatest reason to love. F. S. 



SYNTAX OF THE ADJECTIVE. 435 

1. Let us run with patience the race set before us. C. S. 

2. I shall ask him the question. C. S. 

God seems to have made him what he was. C. S. 

3. I was taught Grammar. C. S. 

She would not accept the jewels, though she was offered 
them. C. S. 

4. In his distress he, for the first time, called upon God. 
C. S. , 

5. He traveled forty miles yesterday. C. S. 
He has been waiting here seven days. C. S. 

6. The watch is worth fifty dollars. C. S. 

§ 456. Rule IV. — The lines are from Cicero the orator and 
statesman. C. S. 

Virtue sole survives, 
Immortal, never-failing friend to man, 
His guide to happiness on high. C. S. 

1. George, King of England. C. S. 

2. The Dutch were formerly in possession of the coasting 
trade and freight of almost all other leading nations ; they 
were also the Bankers for all Europe ; advantages by which 
they gained immense sums. C. S. 

3. The Court condemned the criminals, a part of them to 
suffer death, and a part to transportation. C. S. 

4. William the Conqueror's victory at the battle of Hast- 
ings. C. S. 

5. Information was lodged at the Mayor's office, the well- 
known and energetic magistrate. C. S. 

6. I, Victoria, Queen of England, make my proclamation. 
C. S. 

§ 457. He is well versed in school learning. C. S. 



CHAPTER III. 

SYNTAX OF THE ADJECTIVE. 
§ 458. Rule V. — Adjectives belong to Substantives and 
to words used as Substantives ; as, "A wise man ;" ^^ Many 
(persons) adopted this opinion ;" ^' He is goodJ^ When the 



486 SYNTACTICAL FORMS. 

noun to which the adjective belongs is not expressed, it is 
said to be understood. 

Note 1. Adjectives are used in two ways : first. Attribu- 
tively ; as, "A good man died ;" second, Predicatively ; 
as, " He is good^ In the first instance, the quality of good- 
ness is Assumed as belonging to the subject of the verb : in 
the second place, it is Asserted. In the first instance, the 
adjective good qualifies the Grammatical Subject of the prop- 
osition ; in the second, it constitutes the Predicate of the 
proposition. In the proposition, a good man is a merciful 
man^ the adjective good qualifies the Grammatical subject 
of the proposition, and the adjective merciful qualifies the 
Grammatical predicate of the proposition. The noun and ad- 
jective, good man, taken together, as expressing an idea, is 
the logical subject ; and the noun and adjective, merciful 
man, taken together, is the logical predicate of the proposition. 

Note 2. Adjectives belong to verbs in the Infinitive mode, 
which are equivalent to nouns; as, "To see is pleasant ;^^ 
'' To ride is more agreeable than to walk." In the sentences, 
'' to be blind is unfortunate ;" " to be wise is desirable," the 
adjectives blind and wise coalesce with the substantive verb to 
be, and thus become equivalent, the one to the Greek infin- 
itive Tv(j)Xg)tt£lv, and the other to the Latin infinitive saperCy 
either of which can supply the place of a noun. The com- 
binations to be blind, to be wise, compared with a simple in- 
finitive, resemble the combination ivas victorious, in which 
we have a substantive Verb and an adjective, a copula and 
a predicate, compared with the verb conquered, in which we 
have the copula and the predicate united in one word. 

Note 3. Adjectives belong to Sentences, or whole Proposi- 
tions : '' Greece, which had submitted to the arms, in her turn 
subdued the understandings of the Romans, and, contrary to 
that which in these cases commonly happens, the conquerors 
adopted the opinions and manners of the conquered^] — En- 
field's Hist. Phil., b. iii., 1. <' Writers and critics, misappre- 
hending the true construction of these and similar sentences, 
have supposed the attributive to belong to the verb, denoting 
the manner of action. But a little attention to the sense of 
such passages will be sufficient to detect the mistake. For 



SYNTAX OF THE ADJECTIVE. 437 

instance, in the example from Enfield, the attributive con- 
trary can not qualify the verb adopted; for the conquerors 
did not adopt the opinions of the conquered in a manner con- 
trary to what usually happens ; the manner of the act is not 
the thing affirmed, nor does it come into consideration. The 
sense is this, the fact that the conquerors adopted the opin- 
ions and manners of the conquered was contrary to what 
commonly happens in like cases. The attributive belongs to 
the whole sentence or proposition. The same explanation is 
applicable to every simple sentence. It is not necessary to 
regard adjectives in such sentences as adverbs, or to change 
them to adverbs." — Webster, p. 108. If a sentence or part 
of a sentence can so far supply the place of a noun as to be 
the subject of a verb and the antecedent of a pronoun, why 
may it not have an adjective belonging to it ? 

Note 4. Adjectives are sometimes used to modify the mean- 
ing of other adjectives ; as, " The iron was red hot f^ " the 
ship was quick sailing?'' These may be regarded as virtu- 
ally compound Adjectives, whether joined by a hyphen or not. 
Participles are used in the same way ; as, " In came Squire 
South, stark, staring mad." — Arbuthnot. So we meet with 
" roaring drunk ;" '' loving jealous." 

Note 5. An Adjective and a Noun may be taken as a Com- 
pound word, which, as such, may admit of an additional ad- 
jective ; as, '' An elegant young manP The relation in this 
case is Subordinate ; for the adjective young and the noun 
man form but one idea, which is more definitely defined by 
the adjective elegant. In the expression, '' He is an elegant 
and a young man," the relation is co-ordinate. 

Note 6. " Many English verbs take an Adjective with them 
to form the predicate, where an adverb would be used in other 
languages ;" as, '' He fell ill f '' He looks pale f ''He feels 
cold f^ "He ^XQ-^ warm f ''Her smiles amid the blushes 
lovelier show;" "Glows not her blush \hQ fairer?^'' 

In proof of this doctrine, which is advocated by Arnold, Dr. 
"Webster had furnished a long list of examples, with comments. 
In order to understand how the doctrine can be true, it should 
be borne in mind that a Common verb contains in itself an 
attributive element or an adjective ; and, as one adjective can 



488 SYNTACTICAL FORMS. 

combine with another when separate from the verb, so it may 
when it is an element in the Verb. If this explanation is not 
satisfactory, see § 516. A different view, supported by 
strong historical reasons, as well as by its greater simplicity, 
is presented in § 225. 

Note 7. The adjective Like is followed by the objective 
case. In the expression, this is like him ^ the original power 
of the Dative remains, though in current language him is in 
the accusative case. This is inferred, 1. From the fact that, 
in most languages that have inflections to a sufficient extent, 
the word meaning like governs a dative case. 2. That if we 
ever use any preposition at all to express similitude, it is the 
Preposition to ; like to me. Some Grammarians prefer con- 
sidering the Preposition to understood as the governing word. 
Nigh^ near^ next^ like^ when followed by the objective case, 
may be regarded either as Prepositions or as Adjectives, to 
being understood. See § 552, 10. 

Note 8. Adjectives are often used as Substantives, and 
sometimes take the sign of the plural ; as, "The ivise ;" "the 
deepf^ " the evils of war ;" " the sweets of life." 

Note 9. A Substantive, or a phrase standing immediately 
before a substantive, is often equivalent to an Adjective ; as, 
"A ham door;" "the marriage act;" "an off-hand man- 
ner." See § 452. 

Note 10. When an Adjective is used to express Compari- 
son between tivo objects^ it is put in the comparative degree ; 
as, " He is the taller of the two ;" " She is more discreet 
than her sister." Even good writers, however, sometimes 
depart from this usage, and employ the Superlative in the 
comparison between two objects. 

Note 11. When an Adjective is used to express Compari- 
son betv/een more than two objects of the same class, it is 
put in the superlative ; as, " He was the bravest of the 
brave ;" " She was the loveliest of women." 

In the use of the Comparative degree, if the terms of com- 
parison belong to one and the same class, other is prefixed to 
the second term; as, " Socrates was wiser than the o^//er Athe- 
nians." In the use of the Superlative degree, as the object 
expressed by the first term of the comparison is contained in 



SYNTAX OF THE ADJECTIVE. 439 

the class expressed by the second terra, the word other can 
not be admitted ; as, " Socrates was the wisest of the Athe- 
nians," not the wisest of the other Athenians. " The love- 
liest of her daughters. Eve," is phraseology condemned, on the 
ground that it implies that the first term, Eve, is contained 
in the second term of the comparison, daughters ; whereas, 
from the nature of the case, it can not be. 

Note 12. Double Comparatives and Superlatives should be 
avoided ; as, ^^ More tviser,^^ '^ more braver,^^ ^^ most strong- 
est.^^ Worser is obsolete, but lesser is still in use, as well 
as its abbreviation less. The superlative form of certain ad- 
jectives, which in the positive contain the utmost degree of 
the quality, is not in correct use ; as, Extremest, chiefest ; 
truest, rightest. Certain other pleonastic expressions of 
this kind are in current use among respectable authors ; as, 
More perfect, most perfect ; less universal, so universaL 
This phraseology is not to be encouraged, though we may 
have to submit to it. Thus the word lesser is used for less 
by good authors. 

Note 13. Adjectives and Adverbs are sometimes improperly 
used for each other; as, ''Extreme bad weather," for ex- 
tremely ; " the then ministry," for the then existing minis- 
try ; ''weeds and ^owem promiscuous shoot," for promiscu- 
ously ; '^indifferent honest,'''' for indifferently honest. 

Note 14. An adjective is sometimes used Infinitively, or 
Independently of a noun, when joined to a verb infinitive or 
to a participle ; as, " To be cheerful is the habit of a truly 
pious mind;" "The desire of being happy reigns in all 
hearts." 

THE COLLOCATION OF ADJECTIVES. 

§ 459. The adjective is generally placed immediately be- 
fore the substantive; as, ^ learned man; a virtuous woman 

Exception 1. When the adjective is closely connected with 
some other word, by which its meaning is modified or ex- 
plained ; as, " A man loyal to his prince." 

Exc. 2. When the verb serves merely the purpose of a 
copula, to unite the predicate with its subject ; as, " Thou 
art good." 



490 SYNTACTICAL FORMS. 

Exc. 3. When there are more adjectives than one con- 
nected with the substantives ; as, '' A man wise, learned, 
valiant, and goodP 

Exc. 4. When metrical harmony will be obtained ; as, 
<' Hail ! bard divine P 

Exc. 5. When the adjective is preceded by an adverb, the 
noun is often placed first; as, <' A man conscientiously exact." 

Exc. 6. When an adjective becomes a title ; as, '' Alexan- 
der the G^re<2^ ;" ''.Henry the jP/rs^." 

Exc. 7. When time, number, or dimension are specified, 
the adjective follows the substantive ; as, " He is four years 
old ;" '' An army twenty thousand strong ;" " A wall three 
feet thick. '''^ 

Exc. 8. When an emphatical adjective is used to intro- 
duce a sentiment, it precedes, at some distance, the substantive 
which it qualifies ; as, '' Auspicious will be that event." 

Exc. 9. The adjective all may be separated from its sub- 
stantive by the ; as, ^'All the nations of Europe." Such and 
many, when they modify nouns in the singular number, are 
separated from thern by a : as, " Such a character is rare ;" 
" Many a time." 

All adjectives are separated from nouns by a when pre- 
ceded by so or as — " so rich a dress ;" "as splendid a reti- 
nue." They are also separated by a and the when preceded 
by how or hoioever ; as, "How distinguished an act of 
bravery ;" " How brilliant the prize ;" " However just the 
complaint;" and by too ; as, " Too costly a sacrifice." The 
word soever may be interposed between the attribute and the 
noun ; as, " How clear soever this idea of infinity ; how re- 
mote soever it may seem." — Locke. Double, in the sense 
of twice, is separated from its noun by the or a ; as, " Double 
the or a distance." In the sense of two-fold it is preceded 
by the or a ; as, " The or a double wrapper." Both is sepa- 
ra.ted from its noun by the ; as, "Both the men." All and 
singular, or every, precede /Ae before tiie noun in these phrases : 
*' All and singular the articles, clauses, and conditions;" "All 
and every of the articles" — phrases of the law style. 

Worth not only follows the noun which it qualifies, but is 
followed by a noun denoting price or value ; as, "A book 



SYNTAX OF THE ADJECTIVE. 49^^ 

vjortli a dollar f "It is well worth the money;" << It is 
worth observation?'' If a pronoun is used after worthy it 
must be in the objective case : It is ivorth them^ or it. 

We have certain adjectives which follow a verb and a noun 
to which they belong, but never precede the noun. Such 
are, Adry, af eared, afraid, alone, alike, aware, akin, alive, 
asleep, awake, athirst, aloft, aghast, afloat, askew, ashamed, 
pursuant, plenty, worth ; to which may be added, amiss, 
aground, ashore, aside, and a few others, which may be used 
as modifiers or adverbs. We say one is adry, ashamed, 
alive, or awake ; but never an adry person, an ashamed 
child, &c. We say, " A proclamation was issued pursuant 
to advice of council ;" but we can in no case place pursuant 
before the noun. 

It has been a question whether the Ordinal shall come be- 
fore the Cardinal ; for instance, whether the j^r^^ three, or the 
three first, is the correct order. The objection to the use of 
first three is, that it implies an absurdity, when there is no 
second three. The objection to the use oi three first is, that 
it implies an absurdity, since there can be but one first. 
Each order is justified by respectable usage. A preacher 
having his mind upon the number of stanzas to be sung, will 
be apt to say the "four first stanzas." The captains of two 
difierent classes at school would be called the two first hoys. 
The first and second boys of the same class would be called 
the j^rs^ two boys. Expressions like two first are sanctioned 
by the example of some of the best writers ; so also are ex- 
pressions like^r6'^ two, which, indeed, in some caseSj are to 
be preferred. " The Fathers of the five first centuries."-— 
Middleton. " I have not numbered the lines, except of the 
four first books." — Cowper. 

SYNTAX OF PRONOMINAL ADJECTIVES OR ADJECTIVE 

PRONOUNS. 

§ 460. Rule VI. — This and That agree with nouns in the 
singular number, These and Those with nouns in the plural 
number ; as. This city, that church ; these cities, those 
churches. 

Note 1. This and that, these and those, are joined either in 



492 SYNTACTICAL FORMS. 

the singular or the plural number to the word means, which 
has the same form in both numbers ; as, '* This means; 
these meansP 

Note 2. This, that, and other adjectives denoting unity, 
are joined to nouns in the plural form denoting an aggregate 
or a unity of idea; as, '^ This ten years;'''' ^^ every three 
yearsP A plural form expressing unity of idea is sometimes, 
by the influence of this idea, changed to the singular form ; 
as, ''^Twelve months into twelve month; seven nights into 
seven night ; fourteen nights into fortnights 

§ 461. Rule VII. — The Distributive Adjectives, Each, 
Every, Either, require the nouns to which they belong to 
be in the Singular Number. 

'Each is employed to denote two or more taken separately; 
as, '•^Each member is entitled to his share." 

Every is applied to more than two objects taken individu- 
ally, and comprehends them all; as, '•''Every tree is known 
by its fruit." It is sometimes joined to a plural noun, when 
the things are conceived of as forming one aggregate ; as, 
'•''Every twelve yearsP 

Either and Neither signify only one of two ; as, " Take 
either of the two apples," that is, one or the other, but not 
both. Either is used improperly for each ox both; as, ''On 
either side of the river." Either has sometimes the mean- 
ing of one or another of any number ; as, '' You may take 
either of these ten books." This use of the word either is 
not to be encourasfed. 

§ 462. Rule VIII. — Many, Few, Several, denote num- 
ber, and belong to plural substantives; as, '^ Many men f'' 
^^ few offices ;''"' '''- several prisoner sP 

Many is used with a singular substantive, with the article 
a between it and the substantive ; as, " You, I know, have 
many a time sacrificed your own feelings to those of others." 
" A great many'''' is a phrase in current use. 

Few may take the article a before it, though that article 
can not be used with a plural word ; as, "Can you lend me 
a few shillings .^" 

Much denotes quantity, ajid is used in the singular ; as, 
^^Much money P 



SYNTAX OF THE ADJECTIVE. 493 

More and Most denote number and quantity^ and are used 
in the singular and the plural number; as, ^^ More fruit ^^"^ 
" most fruit f " more men^^^ " most men^ 

Little, like much, denotes quantity, and is used in the 
singular. 

§ 463. Rule IX. — All, none, no, some, any, denote num" 
ber or quantity.) and belong to singular or plural nouns ; as, 
^^ All men ;" *' all the earths No and none differ as my and 
mme, &c. ; as, "I have no paper ;" " as to paper, I have 
none.'''' None^ like mine^ was formerly used before a vowel. 
" This is none other but the house of God." — Gen., xxviii., 17. 
Though compounded of no one^ none is used as either sin- 
gular or plural. ^^Some me^," (number); <' some water, ^^ 
(quantity). Some is used with numerals to signify about. 
^^Some fifty years ago.'''' Mr. Crombie considers this phra- 
seology as highly objectionable, but it is a good old Saxon 
idiom. ">S^^w" is often found combined with the genitive 
plural of the cardinal numbers, and signifies "• about f as, 
^^Sume ten gear,'''' some ten years. Arnold, p. 25, from 
Rask, p. 61. ^^ Any food,'''' (quantity); Any apples, (num- 
ber). Any is sometimes equivalent to every; as, ^^ Any 
body can do that." It is sometimes indefinite, being equiv- 
alent to some; as, " Shall we tell any body our misfortunes ?" 
the particular person being left undecided. 

Enough is an adjective singular, and denotes quantity ; 
as, " Bread enough." Enow, the old plural of enough, de- 
notes number ; as, " Books enow.'''' 

§ 464. There is an ambiguity in the adjective no, against 
which it is necessary to guard. Thus, if we say, «• No laws 
are better than the English," it may mean either that the 
absence of all law is better than the English laws, or that no 
code of Jurisprudence is superior to the English. If the lat- 
ter be the meaning intended, the ambiguity is removed by 
saying, " There are no laws better than the English." If 
the former, we might say, " the absence of all law is prefera- 
ble to the English system." 



494 SYNTACTICAL FORMS. 



SYNTAX OF DEFINITE NUMERAL ADJECTIVES. 

§ 465. K-uLE X. — The Cardinal one, the Ordinal first, 
and the word sinole are naturally Singular, and are used 
with nouns in the singular number. The Cardinals two, 
THREE, etc., which answer to the question how many^ are used 
with nouns in the plural number. The Ordinals second, 
third, etc., which denote what place the thing occupies ; the 

MULTIPLICATIVES DOUBLE, TWO-FOLD, TRIPLE, THREE-FOLD, FOUR- 
FOLD, which show how many times, one thing exceeds another, 
are used with nouns in the singular number. 

§ 466. EuLE XI.- — After Numerals, the words pair, couple, 
DOZEN, score, hundred, THOUSAND, ctc, do not take the plural 
form; as, ^'•^ix pair of shoes;" ^^ three dozen of apples;" 
^^ four couple of dancers." We say twenty sail of vessels ; 
a hundred head of cattle. 

§ 467. Rule XIL— Both Cardinals and Ordinals can be 
used as nouns, and some of them take the plural termination ; 
as, Ones^ twos^ threes^ tens^ hundreds^ thousands^ millions^ 
seconds^ thirds^ fourths. See § 195. 

SYNTAX OF THE ARTICLE <' AN" OR '« A." 

§ 468. Rule XIII. — The Article an or a, called the In- 
definite Article, is used before nouns in the Singular Num- 
ber, to show that some single object is meant, without speci- 
fying or defining it ; as. An army ; a book. . 

Note l.'The Indefinite Article has sometimes the mean- 
ing of every or each; as, " They cost five dollars a dozen;'''' 
" it cost ten cents an inch'''' = " every dozen," '' each inch." 

Note 2. The Indefinite Article is placed before plural nouns 
preceded hy fevj or many ; and also before any collective 
word ; as, " A few days ;" ''a great ma7iy persons ;" ''•a 
hundred ;" ^^ a hundred years." A never precedes many 
without the intervention of great between them, but follows 
7}iany standing between this word and a noun ; as, <^ JMany 
a man." 

Note 3. The omission or the insertion of the Indefinite ar- 
ticle in some instances nearly reverses the meaning. Its 
omission before such words as feiv^ little^ shows that the 



SYNTAX OF THE ADJECTIVE. 495 

number or quantity indicated by the adjectives is taken in its 
proper sense : '' Ah ! little think the gay, licentious proud." 
Here little is equivalent to ''• not muchj" or, by a trope, to 
" not at allP 

^' He reads with a little attention." Here, on the contra- 
ry, when the indefinite article is inserted, '^« little" means 
''not none," or "some." If we say '•'•few accompanied the 
prince," we seem to disparage the number, and to represent it 
as inconsiderable, as if we said " not many." If we say '•'•a 
few accompanied the prince," we seem to amplify the num- 
ber, as if it were not unworthy of attention. If the article 
is inserted, the clause is equivalent to a double negative, and 
thus serves to amplify ; if the article is suppressed, the ex- 
pression has either a diminutive or a negative import. 

Note 4. In expressing comparison, when the Indefinite ar- 
ticle is suppressed before the second term, the latter becomes 
the predicate of the subject, or first term. If, on the con- 
trary, the second term is prefaced with the article, it forms 
the other subject of comparison. In the former case, the 
subject, as possessing different qualities in various degrees, 
is compared with itself; in the latter it is compared with 
something else. Thus, if we say, " He is a better soldier 
than scholar," omitting the article before the second term, the 
expression is equivalent to " he possesses the qualities of a 
soldier in a higher degree than those of a scholar," or " he 
is more warlike than learned." If, on the contrary, the sec- 
ond term is preceded by the article, it forms the other subject 
of comparison. Thus, " He would make a better soldier than 
a scholar," denotes that " he would make a better soldier than 
a scholar would make." 

Note 5. The Indefinite article, like the definite, is em- 
ployed to distinguish between things which are individually 
different, but have one generic name, and things which in 
reality are one and the same, but are characterized by dif- 
ferent qualities : " A black and a white horse," or " a black 
horse and a white," conveys the idea of two horses, the one 
black and the other white. " A black and white horse," on 
the contrary, denotes one horse, partly black and partly white. 
In general, the ellipsis of articles implies identity, whether 



490 SYNTACTICAL FORMS. 

with respect to person, subject, or predicate ; the insertion or 
repetition of them, diversity. 

Note 6. The word to which a or an refers must always 
be expressed ; that to which one refers may be understood. 
Pointing to books, we can not say, "Give me a or an f^ but 
we may say, '' Give me o?^e." 

Note 7. When the meaning of a term is general, it should 
not be limited by the use of the article ; as, " Man is born to 
trouble," that is, '' all men." " God Almighty has given 
reason to a man, to be a light to him." The article here 
should be suppressed. " Who breaks a butterfly upon a 
wheel ?" It is not any wheel that Pope meant, but a known 
instrument of torture, or " the wheel." 

SYNTAX OF THE ARTICLE <' THE." 

§ 469. EuLE XIV. — The Article the, called the Definite 
Article, is used before nouns, both in the Singular and Plural 
number, to specify and define their meaning ; as, " The Pres- 
ident ;" " the Senate ;" '' the Representatives." 

Note 1. The omission of this article, when the sense is re- 
stricted, creates ambiguity ; as, " All words which are signs 
of complex ideas furnish matter of mistake." This may mean 
either that all words are signs of complex ideas, and furnish 
matter of mistake, or that such a part of them as are the signs 
of complex ideas furnish matter of mistake. The ambiguity 
is removed by the use of the article ; as, "All the words which 
are signs of complex ideas furnish matter of mistake." 

Note 2. The Definite article is likewise used to distinsfuish 
between things which are individually different, but have one 
generic name, and things which are, in truth, one and the 
same, but are characterized by several qualities : " The red 
and white roses were most admired." It may be doubtful 
whether two kinds of roses are here indicated, or roses with 
two colors. By repeating the article the ambiguity is re- 
moved: " The red and the white roses." In this phraseology 
two kinds of roses are indicated. The expression, " The ec- 
clesiastical and secular powers concurred in this measure," is 
ambiguous so far as language can make it so. By repeating 
the article or varying the phraseology the ambiguity is re- 



SYNTAX OF THE ADJECTIVE. 



497 



moved: '' The ecclesiastical and the secular powers;" or ''the 
ecclesiastical powers and the secular ;" or '' the ecclesiastical 
powers and the secular powers." 

Note 3. When an additional epithet or description of the 
same subject is intended, the Definite article should not be 
employed. For this reason the following sentence is faulty : 
'' The Apostle James, the son of Zebedee and the brother of 
St. John, would be declared the Apostle of the Britons." It 
should be '' and brother of St. John." "When a diversity of 
persons or a change of subject is intended to be expressed, the 
definite article is necessarily employed ; as, " Cincinnatus 
the Dictator, and the master of the horse, marched against 
the ^qui." Were the article omitted, the expression would 
imply that the dictator and the master of the horse were one 
and the same individual. 

Note 4. In general, it may be sufficient to prefix the Arti- 
cle, whether definite or indefinite, to the former of two words 
in the same construction ; as, " There were many hours both 
of the night and day which he could spend without suspicion 
in solitary thought." It might have been of the night and 
of the day. And, for the sake of emphasis, we often repeat 
the article in a series of epithets ; as, " He hoped that this 
title would secure him an ample and an independent au- 
thority." The article is repeated before titles ; as, " The 
Honorable the Lord Mayor." 

Note 5. The Definite article gives energy and precision 
when applied to Comparatives and Superlatives : '' The more 
frequently I see him, the more I respect him." 

Note 6. As Proper names are already determinate, they do 
not admit the article, except, 1. When a particular family is 
distinguished ; as, ''He was a Stuart," or " of the family of 
the Stuarts." 2. When eminence is implied ; as, " J. Bru- 
tus," meaning a patriotic person. 3. When a Common name 
is understood ; as, " The (river) Hudson." 

Note 7. The use of the Definite article before the relative 
which, has become obsolete : " Where there was a garden, 
into the which he entered." — John, xviii., 1. 

Note 8. Formerly, to express death in general, authors 
would say the death : "I will not do it to the death." — 

Ii 



498 SYNTACTICAL FORMS. 

Shakspeare. So expressions like ''the Douglas," "the Lady 
Anne," were in use. 

Note 9. Articles often precede quotations from foreign lan- 
guages ; as, " The yvudc aeavrov ;" " ^ ne plus ultras 

Note 10. As showing the value of the Article in giving 
definiteness, the following phrase may be cited from the Latin 
language, which has no article. Filius regis is suscepti- 
ble of four different meanings : A son of a king ; a son of the 
king ; the son of a king ; the son of the king. 

PROMISCUOUS EXAMPLES OF THE PROPER AND IM- 
PROPER USE OF THE ARTICLES. 

§ 470. "And the Pharisees and Scribes murmured." The 
should be inserted before " Scribes," to signify that they were 
a class distinct from the Pharisees. 

" Howbeit, when he, the Spirit of Truth, shall come, he 
will guide you into all truth." The passage should have run, 
all the truths that is, the truth concerning the Christian re- 
ligion. 

" There are few words in the English language which are 
employed in a more loose and circumscribed sense than those 
of the fancy and the imagination." — Spectator. The words 
those of the are worse than superfluous. 

" If I but stretch this hand, 
I heave the gods, the ocean, and the land !" — Pope. 

The objects here are distinct, and are properly marked as 
such by the repetition of the definite article. 

"^ cool head, an unfeeling heart, and a cowardly dis- 
position prompted him, at the age of nineteen, to assume 
the mask of hypocrisy, which he never laid aside." The 
repetition of the article distinctly marks the three proper- 
ties in Augustus which Gibbon wished his readers to no- 
tice. 

" But the great triumphs of modern ingenuity and art are 
those astronomical clocks and watches, in which the counted 
vibrations of a pendulum or balance-wheel have detected peri- 
odical inequalities even in the motion of the earth itself." — 
Arnot's Physics. A pendulum is not a balance-wheel . The 



SYNTAX OF THE ADJECTIVE. 499 

distinction should have been marked by the insertion of the 
article a before the word balance-wheel. 

*' And the contention was so great among them, that they 
departed asunder one from a;^other."— Acts, xv., 39. As 
Paul and Barnabas only are here spoken of, the word an is 
improperly used for the. 

^' Surely this v/as the Son of God." To express the 
thought of the centurion, who was a believer in a plurality 
of Gods, the expression should be, '' Surely this was a Son 
of a God." The article 6 is not in the Greek. 

COLLOCATION. 

§ 471. The articles are placed before words to which they 
are applied, except the Adjectives all, such^ many, and those 
that are preceded by the words too, so, as, how ; as, " All 
the men ;" such a man," &c. See § 459, 462. 

EXERCISES IN THE SYNTAX OF THE ADJECTIVE. 

§ 472. Rule V.— To Christian nations belong the exclu- 
sive cultivation of learning and science, and the assiduous 
advancement of every useful and ornamental art. C. S. 

1. Beautiful June has come : June is beautiful. C. S. 

2. To calumniate is detestable; to be generous is com- 
mendable. C. S. 

3. No such original Convention of the people was ever 
held antecedent to the existence of Civil Government. C. S. 

4. I never met with a closer grained wood. C. S. 

5. He described a beautiful young lady. C. S. 

6. Drink deep or taste not the Pierian spring. C. S. 

7. If she is not one of the immortals, she is like them. C. S. 

8. He enjoys the goods of fortune with a grateful heart. 
C.S. 

9. Having leaped the stone wall, he drank spring water 
C.S. 

10. He is the strongest of the two, but not the wisest. F. S. 
He is the wisest of men. C. S. 

11. I understood him the best of all others that spoke on 
the subject. F. S. 

He was graver than the other Frenchmen. C. S. 



500 SYNTACTICAL FORMS. 

12. His work was perfect, his brother's more perfect, and 
his father's the most perfect of all. F. S. 

It is more easier to build two chimneys than to maintain 
one. F. S. 

13. You had scarce gone when he arrived. F. S. 

The Tutor addressed him in terms rather warm, but suit* 
ably to his offense. F. S. 

14. To be trifling in youth is a bad omen. F. S. 

§ 473. Rule VI. — These sort of actions injure society. 
F. S. 

Those kind of injuries bring with them an appropriate pun- 
ishment. F. S. 

1. Frugality is one mean of acquiring a competency. 
F. S. 

2. I have not been in "Washington this five years. C. S. 
E/ULE VII. — Each of them in their turn receive the benefits 

to which they are entitled. F. S. 

1. Every person, whatever be their station, is bound to 
obey the laws of morality. F. S. 

2. Are either of those men worthy of public confidence ? 
F.S. 

3. Neither of those men are aware that their opinions are 
false. F. S. 

Rule VIII. — Many daughters have done virtuously. C. S. 

Rule IX. — Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work. 
C. S. 

§ 474. No religion is better than the Mohammedan. 
(State each of the two meanings which this ambiguous sen- 
tence may express.) 

Rule X. — One man esteemeth one day above another. 
C.S. 

Rule XI. — There were six pair of doves. C. S. 

Rule XII. — They came and departed by twos. C. S. 

Rule XIII. — I have traveled through a beautiful valley. 
C.S. 

1. They visit the North once a year. C. S. 

2. He will come in a few hours. C. S. 



SYNTAX OF THE ADJECTIVE. 5OI 

Full many a Gem, of purest ray serene, 
The dark, unfathomed caves of ocean bear ; 

Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, 
And waste its sweetness on the desert air. C. S. 

3. He has few friends ; he has a few friends. He has 
little money ; he has a little money. C. S. 

4. He is a better artist than seaman. C. S. 

He would make a better artist than a seaman. C. S. 

5. A black and white horse ; a black and a white horse. 
Give equivalents for the two last expressions. 

6. Here are Apples ; give me one. 

7. A man is the noblest work of Creation. F. S. 
He was doomed to ascend a scaffold. F. S. 

Rule XIV. — Beware of drunkenness : it impairs an un- 
derstanding ; wastes an estate ; destroys a reputation ; con- 
sumes the body ; and renders the man of the highest parts 
the common jest of the meanest clown. F. S. 

1. In all cases of proscription, the universal practice is to 
direct juries, by analogy, to the statute of limitations, to de- 
cide against incorporeal rights which, for many years, have 
been relinquished. F. S. 

2. The red and white bonnets were much admired. Give 
the ambiguous equivalents. 

Like a householder who bringeth out of his treasures things 
new and old. F. S. 

3. Thomas, the brother of the General, and the Colonel of 
a regiment, led the attack. Give the ambiguous equiva- 
lents. 

4. He is a just, wise, and generous man. 

5. At the best, his gift was but a poor offering. 

6. He was a Washington ; He was a Cato ; The Con- 
necticut. C. S. 

7. Those things in the which I will appear unto thee, 
F. S. 

8. Bear Worcester to the death. F. S. 

9. The tout ensemble, 

10. Amicus imperator. 



502 SYNTACTICAL FORMS. 



CHAPTER IV. 

SYNTAX OF PRONOUNS. 

§ 475. Rule XV. — Pronouns agree with their Anteced- 
ents, or the nouns which they represent, in Gender, Number, 
and Person ; as, ^^ God rules the world which he created ;'* 
'' the moon appears and she shines, but the light is not her 
own ;" '« O Thou who dwellest in the heavens ;" " both 
wealth and poverty are temptations : that tends to excite 
pride ; this, discontent." For rules common to both Pro- 
nouns and Nouns, see Syntax of Substantives. 

Note 1. The Pronoun and the word representing it must 
not be introduced together as subjects of the same verb ; 
as, " My trees they are planted." For the exception in ani- 
mated language, by Aposiopesis, see § 626. 

Note 2. The antecedent is sometimes only implied, and not 
expressed; as, ''My paternal home was made desolate, and 
he was sacrificed." The sense is plain. He means my fa- 
ther, yet no Substantive, as father , has gone before. It is 
supplied, however, from the word paternal. 

§ 476. Rule XVI.— Two or more Antecedents, united in 
construction by the Conjunction and^ require their Repre- 
sentative Pronoun to be in the Plural number; as, "Socrates 
and Plato were wise ; they were the most eminent philoso- 
phers of Greece." 

Note 1. If the Singular antecedents thus united in con- 
struction are of several persons, the Second person takes pre- 
cedence of the Third, and the First of both, in forming the 
Plural of the Representative Pronoun ; as, " Thou and he 
shared it between you ;" " James, and thou, and I are at- 
tached to otir country." But if the antecedents describe one 
person or thing, though connected by and, they are in appo- 
sition, and do not require a plural pronoun ; as, " That phi- 
losopher and poet spent his life in the service of mankind." 

Note 2. In the Classical languages, the pronoun of the 
First Person is deemed more worthy than that of the second, 



SYNTAX OF PRONOUNS. 



503 



and the Second than that of the Third. But though we in 
like manner place the pronoun of the second person before 
that of the third, we modestly place the pronoun of the First 
Person after those of the second and third. When a Roman 
would say, Si tu et Tullia valetis, ego et Cicero valemus^ 
we should say, '' If you and Tullia are well, Cicero and I are 
well." 

§ 477. Rule XVII. — Two or more Antecedents in the 
Singular Number, separated in construction by the Disjunct- 
iva Conjunction or, or in any other way, require the pro- 
noun to be in the singular Number ; as, " John or James will 
send his book ;" '« The Bible, and not the Koran, is read 
there : its influence is salutary ;" " Every tree and every 
plant produces others after its kind." 

Note 1. A Plural antecedent and a Singular antecedent, 
connected by or or nor, require the pronoun to be in the 
Plural number ; as, " Neither the Captain nor his men 
showed themselves?'' 

Note 2. When the Antecedent is a Collective noun, con- 
veying the idea of Plurality, the pronoun must agree with it 
in the Plural number ; as, <^ The Senate were divided in 
their opinions." 

PERSONAL PRONOUNS. 

§ 478. Rule XVIII. — The Personal Pronouns I, thou, 
YOU, YE, and we, are generally employed without an anteced- 
ent noun, because that noun is assumed to be well known. 
When I and the name of a person are both employed, as they 
are in formal writings, the pronoun precedes the name ; as, 
" J, Richard Roe, of Boston." In similar language, you and 
we also precede the name. You is used indefinitely for any 
person who may read the work in which the word is thus 
used ; as, '' You may trust an honest man." He and they 
are used in the same indefinite manner ; as, " He seldom 
lives frugally who lives by chance." «' Blessed are they that 
mourn, for they shall be comforted." 

Note 1. a. It is used with verbs called impersonal ; as, "/if 
rains." Here there is no antecedent. 

b. It is used to introduce a sentence preceding a verb, as 



504 SYNTACTICAL FORMS. 

the nominative, but representing a clause that comes after 
ward ; as, " J^ is well known that the Jews were at this time 
under the dominion of the Romans." Here it represents the 
whole sentence, except the clause in which it stands. 

c. It is used as the representative of the subject of a prop- 
osition when the subject is placed last ; as, ^^ It is to be hopejd 
that we shall succeed." Here that we shall succeed is the 
subject which it represents. 

d. It is used to represent a plural noun ; as, " It was the 
Homans that aimed at the conquest of the world." 

e. It is used to represent a pronaun of the first or the sec- 
ond person ; as, " /-f is I ;" " it is you." 

/. It is used to represent a noun in the masculine Gen- 
der ; as, " It was Judas who betrayed his Master." 

g. It is used to express a general condition or state ; as, 
<' How is it with you ?" 

h. It is used after intransitive verbs in an indefinite way ; 
as, "Whether the charmer sinner it or saint zY." 

Note 2. Its is probably a Secondary Genitive, and is of 
late origin in the language. The Anglo-Saxon was his^ the 
Genitive of Ae, for the Neuter and the Masculine equally. 
Hence when, in the old writers, we meet his where we expect 
its, we must not suppose that any personification takes place, 
but simply that the old Genitive common to the two Genders 
is used in preference to the modern one, limited to the neuter 
and irregularly formed. Thus, " The Apoplexy is, as I take 
it, a kind of lethargy. I have read the cause of his effects 
in Galen; it is a kind of deafness." — 2 Henry IV., i., 2. 
"If the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be sea- 
soned ? It is neither fit for the land nor yet for the dung- 
hill, but men cast it out." — Luke, xiv., 34, 35. 

Note 3. The Personal pronoun we is used by Monarchs, 
Reviewers and other writers, instead of the singular ; as, 
" To promote the peace and the prosperity of this kingdom 
we send forth our proclamation." See § 215. 

Note 4. Instead of the true nominative ye, we use, with 
few exceptions, the objective case; as, "You speak f^ "you 
two are speaking.'''' In this we substitute one case for an- 
other. Instead of the true pronoun of the Second person 



SYNTAX OF PRONOUNS. 595 

Singular thou, we use, with few exceptions, the pronoun of 
the second person Plural ye, and that in the objective rather 
than in the nominative case. We not only say ye instead 
of thou^ but you instead of ye. The use of one number for 
another is current throughout the Gothic languages. A pro- 
noun so used is conveniently called the Pronomen r ever en- 
tice. Guest remarks, that at one time the two forms ye and 
you seem to have been nearly changing place in our lan- 
guage : 

"As I have made ye one, Lords, one remain ; 
So I grow stronger, you more honor gain." — Henry VIII., iv., 3. 

" What gain you by forbidding it to tease ye, 
It now can neither trouble you nor please ye." — Dryden. 

Ye, jn the accusative, is now sometimes used by poets. Its 
use should not be encouraged. See § 220. 

Note 5. In the German and the Danish, the pronomen 
reverentice is got at by a change not of number alone, but 
of number and person. The pronoun of the third person is 
used instead of that of the second ; just as if in English we 
should say, Will they walk = will you walk ; will ye walk; 
wilt thou walk. " Notandum item apud nos morem obti- 
nuisse (sicut apud Gallos aliosque nunc dierum) dam quis 
alium alloquitur, singularem licet, numerum tamen pluralem 
adhibendi ; virum tunc you dicimus non ye. Singulari vero 
numero si quis alium compellit, vel dedignantis illud esse 
solet vel familiariter blandientis." — Wallis, p. 98. 

Note 6. So far as Gender is concerned, rule fifteenth has 
no practical application to personal pronouns of the First and 
Second persons, J, thou^ we, ye, you. These are the same 
for the masculine and the feminine ; neither has it any prac- 
tical application to the plural number of the third person, 
the same form they being used for the three genders. Nor 
has it application to the number of the second person, as far 
as you is used for thou. To he, she, it, the remaining per- 
sonal pronouns, it has an application in respect to gender. 

Note 7. "In the phrase, ^ Rob me the exchequer,'^ Henry 
IV., the me is expletive, and is equivalent to for me. This 
expletive use is conveniently called the Dativus Ethicus. It 



506 SYNTACTICAL FORMS. 

occurs more frequently in the Latin than in the English, and 
more frequently in the Greek than in the Latin." — Latham. 

Note 8. The Same or a similar Form of the pronoun should 
be preserved throughout the sentence : *' Pain ! pain I be 
as importunate as you please, I shall never own that thou 
art an evil." Here either tliou or you should be preserved 
throughout. 

Note 9. The same Pronoun should not refer to Different 
Antecedents in the same sentence ; as, " He (Philip) wrote to 
that distinguished philosopher in terms polite and flattering, 
begging of him (Aristotle) to come and undertake his (Alex- 
ander's) education, and to bestow on him (Alexander) those 
useful lessons of magnanimity and virtue which every great 
man ought to possess, and which his (Philip's) numerous 
avocations rendered impossible for him (Philip)." — Goldsmith. 

SYNTAX OF THE WORD "SELF." 

§ 479. Rule XIX.— The word Self is used as a ReflecU 
ive Personal Pronoun^ for the want of some word in English 
equivalent to the Latin se, the German sich^ and the Scan- 
dinavian sik and sig ; as, "I hurt myself;''^ "he loves A/w- 
self f'^ " they wounded themselvesP 

Note 1. The constructions of the word ^elf are three-fold : 

I. Government. — In myself^ thyself^ ourselves^ and your' 
selves the construction is that of a common Substantive, with 
an Adjective or Genitive case: Myself =mj individuality 
=mea persona or mei persona. 

II. Apposition.— In himself and themselves when accusa- 
tive, the construction is that of a substantive in apposition 
with a pronoun. Himself = him, the individual. 

III. Composition.— When they are used as nominatives, 
the construction can be explained on another principle. In 
phrases like, '' He himself was present ;" " They themselves 
were present," there is neither apposition nor government ; 
him and them being neither in the same case with my and 
thy^ so as to be governed, nor yet in the same case with he 
and they, so as to form an apposition. In order to come 
under one of these conditions, the phrases should be either 
he his self they their selves, or else he he self they they 



SYNTAX OF PRONOUNS. ^Q*j 

selves. In this difficulty, the only logical view that can be 
taken of the matter is to consider the words himself, them' 
selves, not as two words, but as a single word compounded. 
Herself is ambiguous. Its construction is one of the pre- 
ceding ; which, however, it is is uncertain, since her may be 
either a so-called Genitive, like m^, or an objective, like him. 
Itself is also ambiguous. The s may represent either the s 
in self, or the s in its. 

Note 2. As the word self now called a pronoun, was orig- 
inally a Substantive, so its compounds take the inflection of 
substantives in the plural ; as. Ourselves, yourselves, them- 
selves. Myself, thyself, himself, itself, and herself, are nat- 
urally Singular, and can under no circumstances become 
plural. Themselves is naturally Plural, and under no cir- 
cumstances can become singular. Ourselves and yourselves 
are naturally plural, yet under certain circumstances may 
become singular, a. Just as men say we for /, may they say 
our for my. b. Just as men say you {or thou, so may they 
say yotir for thy. 

Note 3. When the Adjective own intervenes between self 
and its personal pronoun, the personal pronoun is always put 
in the Genitive case ; as, His own .self, not him own self; 
their own selves, not them own selves. 

Note 4. When myself or thyself stands alone, the verb 
that follows is in the Third Person : Myself is (not am) 
weak ; thyself is (not art) weak. Here the construction is 
just the same as in the proposition, my body is weak. Usage 
inclines to the other form; as, "-Myself am hell."— Milton« 
When myself and thyself are preceded by I or thou, the verb 
that follows is in the First person or Second : I myself am 
(not is) iveak ; thou thyself art (not is) ^£7eaA:.■— Latham. 

Note 5. The Simple pronoun is sometimes used Reflectively: 

"I sit me down a weary hour to spend. 
Sit thee down." — Goldsmith. 

•' He sat him down at a pillar's base." — Byron. 
In the phrase / strike me, the Verb strike is transitive ; 
in other words, the word me expresses the object of an action, 
and the meaning is different from the meaning of the simple 
expression I strike. 



508 SYNTACTICAL FORMS. 

In the phrase I fear me (used by Lord Campbell in his 
Lives of the Chancellors), the Verb fear is intransitive or 
neuter ; in other v^ords, the word me (unless, indeed, fear 
mean terrify^ expresses no object of any action at all, while the 
meaning is nearly the same as in the simple expression I fear. 
Here the Reflective Pronoun appears out of place, i. e., after 
a Neuter or Intransitive Verb. Such a use, however, is but 
the fragment of an extensive system of Reflective Verbs thus 
formed, developed in different degrees in the different Gothic 
languages, and in all more than in the English. It is slightly 
intensive. — See Latham, p. 432. 

Note 6. Equivocal Reflectives. — The proper place of the 
Reflective is after the Verb. The proper place of the Gov- 
erning Pronoun in the Indicative and Subjunctive Modes is 
before the Verb. Hence, in expressions like the preceding, 
there is no doubt as to the power of the Pronoun. The Im- 
perative Mode, however, sometimes presents a complication. 
Here the Governing Person follows the Verb. Mount ye = 
either be mounted^ or mount yourselves. In phrases like this, 
and in phrases like 

Bush ye, hisk ye, my bonny, bonny bride ; 
Btislc ye, busk ye, my winsome marrow, 

the construction is ambiguous. Ye may be either a Nomin- 
ative Case governing the Verb busk, or an Accusative Case 
governed by it. This is an instance of what may be called 
the Equivocal Reflective. 

Note 7. Myself is often incorrectly used instead of the 
nominative I and the objective 7ne. Its legitimate usage is 
either as a Reciprocal pronoun, or for the sake of Distinction, 
or for some particular Emphasis; as when Juliet cries, "Ro- 
meo, doff thy name ; and for that name, which is no part of 
thee, take all myself^ Or, in the opening of the paradisiacal 
hymn : " These are thy glorious works, parent of good. Al- 
mighty ! thine this universal frame thus wondrous fair ! 
Thyself how wondrous then /" Here there is an evident 
contrast. Where there is no such emphasis, or purpose of 
bringing out a distinction or contrast, the simple pronoun is 
the right one. Instead of saying my father and myself, my 
hr other and myself, the old song, beginning ^'' My father, my 



SYNTAX OF PRONOUNS. 509 

mother^ and J," may teach us what is the idiomatic, and also 
the correct usage. In expressions like the following : Mrs. 
Tompkins and myself will be happy to take dinner ; Mrs. 
Johnson and myself have been writing to each other^ my- 
self is incorrectly used for the pronoun J. 

Note 8. Me is often incorrectly substituted for /. The 
objective me, on which others act, is very far from being the 
same formidable creature either to one's self or to others as the 
subjective J, the ground of all consciousness, volition, and ac- 
tion and responsibility. Grammatically, too, it seems to us 
as. if I always required something to follow it, something to 
express doing or suffering. Hence when one cries out, 
"Who is there?" three people out of four answer, ^'MeP'' 

DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS. 

§480. Rule XX. — The Demonstrative Pronouns This^That^ 
These, -and Those, represent nouns only in the Third person, 
inasmuch as they are used by the i^zVsif person, or the person 
speaking, to point out to the Second person some object ; as, 
" Religion raises men above themselves ; irreligion sinks them 
beneath the brutes : that binds them down to a poor pitiable 
speck of earth ; this opens for them a prospect in the skies." 

"When this and that, these and those, are used in the sense 

of latter and former, this and these stand for the " latter ;" 

that and those for the '' former :" 

"Then Palaces and lofty domes arose ; 
These for devotion, and for pleasure those." 

Note 1. It is a rule in the Latin that hie (thisY refers to 
the last named antecedent, and ille (that) to the first, in ac- 
cordance with the example from Ovid : 

" Quocunque aspicies nihil est nisi pontus et aer, 
Humidus hie tumidus, liuctibus ille minax." 

What is the rule in English ? Suppose we say, " John's 
is a good sword, and so is Charles's ; this out through a thick 
rope, and that cut through an iron rod." Or, instead of say- 
ing this and that, we may say the one and the other. It is 
clear that, in determining to which of the two swords the re- 
spective demonstratives refer, the meaning will not help us at 
all, so that our only recourse is to the rules of Grammar, 



510 SYNTACTICAL FORMS. 

which here will not help us. The Latin rule is adopted by 
scholars, still it is a Latin rule rather than an English one. 
All that Grammar can tell us is, that this refers to the name 
of the idea which is logically the most close at hand, and 
that to the idea which is logically the most distant. 

What constitutes nearness or distance of ideas ; in othei 
words, what determines the sequence of ideas, is another ques- 
tion. That the idea, however, of sequence, and consequently 
of logical proximity and logical distance, is the fundamental 
idea in regard to the expressions in question, is evident from 
the very use of the words this and thoJ. 

Now the sequence of ideas is capable of being determined 
by two tests : 1. The idea to which a name was last given, 
or, changing the expression, the name of the last idea may 
be the nearest idea in the order of sequence, and, consequently, 
the idea referred to by the Pronoun of proximity. In this 
case, the idea closest at hand to the v/riter of the second line 
of the couplet quoted above was the idea of the atmosphere 
(aer), and it was consequently expressed by ^this) hie. 2. 
Or the idea to which a name v/as first given, or, changing 
the expression, the name of the first idea may be the nearest 
idea in the order of sequence, and, consequently, the idea re- 
ferred to it by the pronoun of proximity ; inasmuch as the 
idea which occurs first is the most prominent one, and what 
is prominent appears near. In this case, the idea closest at 
hand to the writer of the second line of the couplet quoted 
above would have been the idea of the sea (^pontus), and 
it would consequently have been the idea expressed by this 
{hie). 

As Ovid, however, considered the idea at the end of the 
last half of one sentence to be the idea nearest to the begin- 
ning of the next, we have him expressing himself as he does. 
On the other hand, it is easy to conceive a writer with whom 
the nearest idea is the idea that led the way to the others. 
Indeed, one and the same individual may measure the sequence 
of his ideas sometimes according to one of these principles, 
and sometimes according to the other ; so that the rules about 
the relations of this and that are often arbitrary. The anal- 
ogies of such expressions as the foUovfing are in favor of ap- 



SYNTAX OF PRONOUNS. 



511 



plying this in English to the first subject, that to the second. 
The word attorney takes the place of this, and applies to the 
first name of the two, i. e., to Thurlow. "It was a proud 
day for the bar when Lord North made Thurlow (1) and (2) 
Wedderburn (1) Attorney and (2) Solicitor General." — Lord 
Campbell's Lives of the Chancellors. 

Note 2. The Personal pronoun them is sometimes improp- 
erly used for these and those; as, " Give me thern, books," 
for give me those books ; read them lines, for read these lines 
This error can be historically accounted for by referring to 
the demonstrative power of them. 



^ RELATIVE PRONOUNS. 



§ 481. EuLE XXI.— Relative Pronouns are not only 
equivalent to the Nouns and Pronouns v/hich they represent, 
but they also serve to connect propositions : The man ivho 
rides is come = The man is come; who rides. Here we 
have two propositions: 1. The man comes; 2. he rides = 
The man comes ; the man rides. Here the Relative is the 
equivalent to a personal pronoun or to a substantive indiffer- 
ently. In sentences like The man is come ; he rides ; The 
man is come; the man rides., the identity between the per- 
sons mentioned in the propositions is implied, not expressed. 
This the Relative expresses, and hence its use in language : 
it connects Propositions. 

§ 482. Rule XXII.— Though a Relative must be in the 
same Gender and the same Number as the antecedent, it 
need not be in the same Case ; as, " I trust John ; ivho 
comes here." Here, though the number and the person are 
the same, the agents are different in the two propositions. 
As there are two verbs, there must be two actions : (1.) trust ; 
(2.) come ; the bbjeot of the one action becomes the agent 
of the other. As the relative is only the antecedent in an- 
other form, it may change its case according to the con- 
struction. 

Note 1. When the Relative and the Antecedent are in dif- 
ferent cases, and the Relative is omitted, the antecedent is 
sometimes put in the case of the relative ; as, <' He whom I 
accuse has entered = 10^ ellipsis, he I accuse has entered; 



512 SYNTACTICAL FORMS. 

changed, according to the present section, Mm I accuse has 
entered. 

" Him I accuse 
The City Gates by this has entered." — Coriolanus, v., 5, 

The reason of this is clear. The verb that determines the 
case of the Relative is brought into contact with the Ante- 
cedent. Here the case of the Antecedent is accommodated 
to the case of the Relative. The Greek phrase xp^l^o.i [ittXtoi^ 
olg %G> is an instance of the converse. 

Note 2. Rule for doubtful constructions : a. Reduce the 
sentence to the several Propositions which it contains, b. Re- 
place the Relative by its equivalent Personal Pronoun or by 
its equivalent Substantive, c. The case of the Pronoun or 
Substantive is the case of the Relative. By applying this 
rule to such expressions as, 

<' Satan, than whom 
None higher sat, thus spoke." 

a. Satan spoke ; none higher than he sat. 

Z>. Satan spoke ; none sat higher than Satan sat. 

Hence the expression should be, 

Satan, than who 
None higher sat. 

The current view that than performs the office of a preposi- 
tion, and governs whom in the objective, can, however, be ad- 
mitted as correct. Perhaps the better opinion is, that custom 
has converted whom into, a nominative. May not the construc- 
tion be a remnant of the Dative form in the Anglo-Saxon, 
which was governed by the comparative degree ? 

§ 483. Rule XXHI. — When there are Two words in a 
clause, each capable of being an Antecedent, the Relative re- 
fers to the latter: 1. Solomon^ the son of David, luho sleio 
Goliath. This is unexceptionable. 2. Solomon, the son of 
David, who built the Temple. This is exceptionable. The 
Relative should be placed as near as possible to the Anteced- 
ent, to prevent ambiguity. 

§ 484. Rule XXIV. — When two antecedents of Different 
persons, one of which is the subject and the other the predi- 
cate, precede the Relative, the relative must agree with the 
one or the other, according to the meaning which the writer 



SYNTAX OF PRONOUNS. 



513 



wishes to communicate : ^' I am the man wlio command''' = 
'' I who command am the man" =='' I the commander am the 
man." '' I am the man who commands'^ = ^^ I am the com- 
mander." If the writer wishes to communicate the meaning 
in the sentence ''I the commander am the man," he will make 
the relative agree with the Subject. If he wishes to commu- 
nicate the meaning contained in the sentence <' I am the com- 
mander," he will make the relative agree with the Predicate. 

§ 485. Rule XXV. — Who and whom represent nouns of 
the Masculine and of the Feminine Gender ; whose, nouns 
of the Masculine, of the Feminine, and of the Neuter Gen- 
der ; WHICH, nouns of the Neuter Gender ; that, nouns of 
the Masculine, of the Feminine, and of the Neuter Gender ; 
as, '' The man ivho came ;" " the woitian who came ;" " the 
man whose Tid^vaQ is John;" " the woman whose name is 
Jane ;" '' the fruit whose name is banana ;" " the rivers 
which flow into the sea ;" «' the man that came ;" '' the 
woman that came ;" " the storm that came." 

Which, not who^ is used for Infants, the sex being disre- 
garded ; as, " The child which I saw is learning to walk." 

Who is sometimes used Indefinitely, without an anteced- 
ent ; as, " I do not care who did it." 

§ 486. Rule XXVI. — In compound sentences, v/ho, which, 
or THAT, employed to introduce a new clause, is Nominative 
to the verb or verbs belonging to that clause ; as, " The 
thirst after curiosities ivhich often draws contempt ;" " He 
who suffers not his faculties to lie torpid has a chance of do- 
ing good;" ''The steamer that left this port on Saturday 
has been seen." 

§ 487. Rule XXVII. — But if, in the new clause, there is 
a Nominative between the Relative and the verb, then the 
relative is governed in the possessive case by a noun, or in 
the objective case by a verb or a preposition; as, " God is 
the sovereign of the universe, whose majesty ought to fill us 
with awe ; to whom we owe all possible reverence, and whom 
we are bound to obey." 

§ 488. The Antecedent is sometimes placed after the Rel- 
ative ; as, ^^Whom the cap fits, let him put it on." 

Note 1. The Antecedent is sometimes suppressed when no' 

Kk 



514 SYNTACTICAL FORMS. 

Emphasis is implied ; as, " Who steals my purse steals trash." 
He or the man is here understood. 

Note 2. The Relatives are often suppressed; as, "The 
friend I visited yesterday." Here whom is understood. 

Note 3. The Relative which sometimes refers to a whole 
clause or to an adjective instead of a noun ; as, " He w^as 
generally despised, which occasioned much uneasiness ;" '' As 
Judas declared him innocent, which he could not be, had he 
in any way deceived his disciples." — Porteus's Lect. Here 
luhich represents the adjective innocent. 

Note 4. The Relative which is sometimes used as an Ad- 
jective ; as, " His early friend, which friend was his ruin." 

Note 5. When the Name of a person is used merely as a 
name, and does not refer to the person, the relative which 
ought to be used, and not who ; as, '' It is no wonder if such 
a man did not shine at the court of Queen Elizabeth, which 
was but another name for prudence and economy." 

Note 6. In some instances, which is introduced as the nom- 
inative to a verb, before the sentence or clause which it rep- 
resents ; as, " There was therefore, ivhich is all that we 
assert, a course of life pursued by them, different from that 
which they before led." — Paley^s Evid., ch. 1. Here which 
is the representative of the whole of the last part of the sen- 
tence, and its natural position is after that clause. 

Note 7. Which represents persons when a question is asked 
or discrimination intended ; as, "Which of the men was it?" 
Formerly which was used as a representative of persons ; as, 
'• Mighty me7i winch were of old." 

§ 489. The Relative That is generally used : 

1. After superlatives ; as, " The wisest man that ever lived 
is liable to error." 

2. After the word same; as, "He is the same man that 
came yesterday." 

3. After a collective noun denoting a body of persons ; as, 
" The army that marched out to battle has been defeated." 

4. After who taken interrogatively ; as, " Who that has 
the spirit of a man would suffer himself to be thus degraded ?" 

0. After persons and things taken conjointly ; as, "The 
men and things that we saw yesterday." 



SYNTAX OF PRONOUNS. 5^5 

6. That may often be considered as restrictive, even when 
the antecedent is not preceded by the definite article, as it 
ought to be when the other relatives are used. Thus, '< All 
words that are signs of complex ideas furnish matter of mis- 
take," is phraseology equivalent to '^ all the words whicli are 
signs of complex ideas furnish matter of mistake." 

§ 490, There is an Elliptical form of expression in the use 
of superlatives and ordinal numbers, which may occasion 
some ambiguity. Thus we sometimes say, " He was the 
first that came," meaning ^' the first (of those) V\^ho came." 
^' He v/as the bravest that Thebes produced." 

Now it is evident that, rejecting the ellipsis, the former 
example may be supposed to denote, '^ He that came was the 
first ;" and the second, " He that Thebes produced was the 
bravest." When this distinction is not clearly marked by 
a diversity of arrangement, a regular diversity of pronouns 
would prevent ambiguity. That should be invariably used 
when the expression is elliptical, and who and which when 
there is no ellipsis, or when the second subject of comparison 
is not involved in the relative clause. Thus, if we mean to 
say, " He was the first of those who came," it might be ex- 
pressed, ^< He was the first that came." When no ellipsis is 
intended, "He was the first who came" = ^^ He who came 
was the first." That^ used as a relative, does not admit a 
preposition before it ; as, ''He is the same man with that you 
were acquainted." But we may say, " He is the same man 
that you were acquainted witliy 

§ 491. Rule XXVIH. — When Relatives connected by a 
conjunction refer to the same antecedent, they should not 
change their form; as, ''He that defeated Austrian armies 
in Italy, and who afterward marched to Vienna at the head 
of his veteran soldiers." Instead of change of form, the rel- 
ative in each case should be either wtio or tliat. 

§ 492. Rule XXIX. — The Relative what has the sense 
of tliat ivhich, and can be at the same time both in the Nom- 
inative and the Objective case ; as, " I have heard wtiat has 
been alleged." Here what is in the objective case, and gov- 
erned by heard ; and also in the nominative case to has been 
alleged. 



516 SYNTACTICAL FORMS. 

Note 1. What is sometimes used Adverbially as equiva- 
lent to partly ; as, "The year before he had so used the mat- 
ter, that what by force, and what by policy, he had taken 
from the Christians about thirty castles." 

Note 2. What is also used improperly instead of the Con- 
junction that; as, ''I can not say but luhat he did it." 
That is now improperly used for what ; as, ''We speak ^Aa^ 
we do know, and testify that we have seen." 

Note 3. What is sometimes used as an Interjection ; as, 
^^What! even denied a cordial at his end?" — Pope. 

Note 4. The Pronouns whatsoever, "s^tiichsoever, avhoso- 
EVER, and the like, are elegantly divided by the interposition 
of the corresponding substantive ; as, '' In ivhat light soever 
we view him, his conduct will bear inspection." 

Note 5. Whether, in sense of which of two, was anciently 
used as a relative pronoun ; as, " Let them take whether they 
will." 

interrogative pronouns. 

§ 493. Rule XXX. — Interrogative Pronouns are' in the 
same case in the question as the words with which they co- 
incide in the answer : Direct. Quest. IF/zo is this? Ans. I. 
Quest. Whose is this ? Ans. His. Quest. Wliom do you 
seek ? Ans. Him. Oblique. Quest. WIio do you say that 
it is ? Ans. He. Quest. Whose do you say that it is ? 
Ans. His. Quest. Whom do you say that they seek ? Ans. 
Him, 

The answer should always be made by means of a Pro 
noun, as, by so doing, we distinguish the Accusative case 
from the Nominative ; and, if necessary, it should be made 
in full. Thus the full answer to Wliom do you say that they 
seek ? is, I say that they seek him. 

Nevertheless, such examples as Wliom do they say it is ? 
are common, especially in Oblique questions : 

"And he axed hem, and seide, Wliom seien the people that 
I am ? Thei answereden and seiden, Jon Baptist ; and he 
seide to hem. But whom seien ye that I am ?" — Wiclif. 
Luke, ix., 18-20. 

" Tell me, in sadness, whom is she you love V— Romeo and Juliet, i., 1. 



SYNTAX OF PRONOUNS. 



517 



<< And as John fulfilled his course, he said. Whom think ye 
that I am ?" — Acts, xiii., 25. 

Three circumstances encourage the confusion : 1. The 
presence of a governing verb ; as, '' Tell me whom she ^s." 
Here tell is made to govern whom, instead of whom being 
left as who, to agree with she. 2. The omission of really 
Oblique Antecedent or Relative ; as, " Tell me whom she is 
you love^ Here the full construction requires a second 
Pronoun: "Tell me who she is whom you love f or else, 
'' Tell me her whom you love." 3. The use of Accusative 
or Nominative forms in the case of Personal Pronouns ; as, 
to the question, '' Who is this V many would answer, not J, 
but "ikTe." This confusion of the Case in the answer favors 
a confusion of Case in the question. It is clear that much 
of this reasoning applies to the Relative powers of who as 
well as to the Interrogative. 

RECIPROCAL PRONOUNS. 

§ 494. Rule XXXI. — In the phrases " They love each 
other;" "They killed one another," there is a Reciprocal 
construction. In the one case, each is in apposition with 
they, or included in it, in the nominative case ; in the other, 
07ie is in apposition with they, or included in it : in both, 
other is in the objective case. 

In a reciprocal construction, two or more propositions are 
abbreviated into one ; as, "John and Henry love each other" 
= " John loves Henry, and Henry loves John." Another re- 
fers to one of many, the other to one of two : " Two men 
were standing on the road, and another came up ;" " Two 
men were standing on the road ; one walked away, and the 
other remained." Another is sometimes improperly used for 
each other : " These two kinds of diction, prose and poetry, 
are so different one from another P Here each other is the 
correct phraseology. 

indeterminate pronouns. 

§ 495. Rule XXXII. — In phrases like one SAYS=they 
say=07^ dit, French, only a general relation is expressed; 
the pronoun has no particular antecedent. One, in such 



518 SYNTACTICAL FORMS. 

phrases, is different in its origin from the Numeral one^ thongh 
often confounded with it. See § 249, 250. 

It also is used Indeterminately either as the Subject or 
the Predicate of a proposition ; as, " It is this ;" ^' this is it ;" 
" I am it ;" " it is I." "When it is the Subject of a proposi- 
tion, the verb necessarily agrees with it, and can be of the 
singular number only, no matter what be the Number of the 
Predicate : It is this ; it is these. When it is the Predicate 
of a proposition, the Number of the Verb depends on the Num- 
ber of the Subject. 

There, adverbial in its classification,' but Pronominal in 
its origin, is also used Indeterminately, but only as the Predi- 
cate of a proposition. It differs from it in this respect, and 
therefore differs from it in never affecting the Number of the 
Verb. This is determined by the nature of the Subject : 
There is this ; there are these. Though a predicate, there 
always stands in the beginning of propositions, ^. e., in the 
place of the Subject. 

EXERCISES IN THE SYNTAX OF PRONOUNS. 

§ 496. Rule XV. — I who was present canst testify. F. S. 
The lady will arrive, for I passed him on the way. F. S. 
He who have not virtue is not truly wise. F. S. 
Note 1. The soldiers, they have all fled. F. S. 

The lamb, thy riot doomed to bleed to-day, 

Had he thy reason, would he skip and play 1 C. S. 

§ 497. Rule XVI. — Virtue and truth are in themselves 
convincing. C. S. 

Note 1. Thou and he will suit themselves. F. S. 

2. I, and John, and you were present. F. S. 

§ 498. Rule XVII. — Henry or William will give us their 
company. F. S. 

Principle, and not profession, is demanded. F. S. 

Every leaf, every twig, every drop of water teem with 
life. F. S. 

Note 1. Neither the General nor his officers showed him- 
self. F. S. 

2. The committee was divided in its opinions. F. S. 

§ 499. Rule XVIII. — Thou and I will attend church to- 
day. C. S. 



SYNTAX OF PRONOUNS. 



519 



1. Zaohary Taylor, President of the United States. C. S. 
Note 1. a. It snows, h. It was supposed that the French 

army were marching out of Spain, c. It is desirable that he 
should return, d. It was the Americans who first applied 
steam to navigation, e. "Who went to Boston ? it was I. /. 
It was Murat who led the cavalry, g. How is it with our 
general ? A. They lorded it over the land. 

2. This rule is not so general but that it admitteth of his 
exceptions. Give the modern equivalent. 

3. We have taken up this book for examination. C. S. 

Yet for my sons, I thank ye Gods 'tis well, 
Well have they perished, for in fight they fell. 

4. You two ate travelers from California. C. S. 
You, William, will go to New York. C. S. 

5. Will they ride? Give the English Equivalent 

, 6. I, thou, we, ye, you, they love. He, she, it loves. 
7. Rob me the exchequer the first thing thou doest 

8. Think me not lost, for thee I Heaven implore, 

Thy guardian angel, though a wife no more ; 
1. I, when abstracted from the world you seem, 

Hint the pure thought, and frame the heavenly dream. F. S. 

9. He pursued the prisoner, but he escaped. F. S. 

§ 500. Rule XIX. — In his anger he struck himself. C. S. 

Note 1. I. I will go myself. C. S. - > 

H. I will see John himself. C. S. 

HI. He himself will go. C. S. 

2. He suffers, but the fault is in ourselves. C. S. 

3. He is obliging, but he loves his own dear self. C. S. 

4. I am mindful that myself is (or am) strong. C. S. 

5. During the preparatory scene, sit thee down. C. S. 

6. Busk ye, busk ye, my bonny, bonny bride. C. S. 

7. My brother, my sister, and myself will come. F. S. 

8. Unless, as I said, Messieurs, you are the masters, and 
p©t me. F. S. 

§ 501. Rule XX.^This is true charity ; that is only its 
image. C. S. 

Note 1. Some place the bliss in action, some in ease ; 

Those call it pleasure, and contentment these. C. S. 

2. Carry them letters to the post-office. F. S. 



520 SYNTACTICAL FORMS. 

Rule XXI. — Henry is a pupil who possesses fine talents. 
C. S. 

E-ULE XXII. — I pursued John, who fled from me. C. S. 

1. Better leave undone, than by our deeds acquire 
Too high a fame, when him we serve's away. C. S. 

Antony and Cleopatra. 

3. Satan, than whom 

None higher sat, thus spake. F. S. 

Rule XXIII.— Joseph, the son of Jacob, who deceived his 
father. C. S. 

Joseph, the son of Jacob, who was Governor of Egypt. F. S. 

Rule XXIV. — I am the man who love. C. S. 

I am the man who loves. C. S. 

Rule XXV. — I am happy in the friend which I have long 
proved. F. S. 

The men and things which he has studied have not im- 
proved his morals. F. S. 

He is like a beast of prey, who destroys without pity. F. S. 

The child whom we have just seen. F. S. 

Rule XXVI. — They who have labored to make us wise 
are entitled to our gratitude. C. S. 

Rule XXVII. — The persons who conscience and virtue 
support may smile at the caprices of misfortune. F. S. 

That is the student who I gave the book to. F. S. 

This the man whose virtues are admired. C. S. 

§ 502. Who lives to virtue, he lives to wisdom. C. S. 

Note 1. Who lives to virtue rarely can be poor. C. S. 

2. The lady I saw last week. 

3. He acted cowardly, which ruined his reputation. C. S. 

4. The measure was sustained by one of the members, but 
by which member I do not know. C. S. 

5. He suffered martyrdom under Nero, who was but an- 
other name for cruelty. F. S. 

6. There was, which can be proved, a great change in the 
politics of the party. C. S. 

7. I can not tell which of the prophets said this. C. S. 
Our Father which art in heaven. 

§ 503. The bravest man that ever fought might have 
trembled. C. S. 



SYNTAX OF THE VERB. 52I 

2. She is the same lady that I saw yesterday. C. S. 

3. The convention that assembled yesterday has been dis- 
solved. C. S. 

4. Who that hopes to succeed would venture on an expe- 
dient like this ? C. S. 

5. The soldiers and tents that we saw yesterday. C. S. 

6. All men that are fond of pleasure. C. S. 

Give equivalents of the preceding examples in this section. 

§ 504. He was the first that died. He was the wisest that 
Athens produced. 

§ 505. Rule XXVEI. — He that wrote the Declaration of 
Independence, and who was the third President of the United 
States. F. S. 

§506. Rule XXIX.-^He saw what had been done. C. S. 

Note 1. Thus, what with war, and what with sweat, what 
with the gallows, and what with poverty, I am custom shrunk. 
C. S. 

2. He did not say but what he did it. F. S. 

If a man read^ little, he had need to have much cunning, 
to seem to know that he doth not. F. S. 

3. What ! can you lull the winged winds asleep ? C. S. 

4. On what side soever I turn my eyes. C. S. 

5. Whither when they come, they fell at words 

Whether of them should be the Lord of lords. C. S. 

Rule XXX. — Who discovered America ? Columbus. C. S. 
Rule XXXI. — They faithfully sought each other. C. S. 
Rule XXXII. — One might travel two miles in that time. 

C. S. 



CHAPTER V. 

SYNTAX OF THE VERB. 

§ 507. Rule XXXIII. — The Verb agrees with its Subject- 
Nominative in Number and Person; as, '^I write f "thou 
rulest f ^'•\iQ obeys P 

Whenever a Single subject is spoken of, the verb is put 
in the Singular number. Where more subjects than one are 



52 2 SYNTACTICAL FORMS. 

spoken of, the verb is put in the Plural number. Where a 
person speaks of himself, the verb is in the First person Sin- 
gular. Where a person speaks to another person, the verb 
is in the Second person Singular. Where a person speaks 
of another person, or of any other object whatever, the verb 
is in the Third person Singular. Where more persons than 
one speak of themselves, the verb is in the First person Plu- 
ral. Where more persons than one are spoken to, the verb 
is in the Second person Plural. Where more persons (or ob- 
jects) than one are spoken of the verb is in the Third person 
Plural. In each of these cases the verb is in the same per- 
son and number with the Substantive or Pronoun preceding, 
and are, therefore, said to agree, or to have concord, with it in 
respect to Number and Person. 

Note 1. A verb in the Third Person may have as its sub- 
ject a sentence, or the clause of a sentence, or a verb in the 
infinitive mode, or any part of speech used as a noun; as, 
«' To attack vices in the abstract, without touching persons^ 
may be safe fighting indeed, but it is fighting with shadows;" 
«' To show how the understanding proceeds herein, is the de- 
sign of the following discourse ;" ^^ To see is desirable ;" "To 
he blind is calamitous ;" '''•Red and green are different colors ;" 
" Once is too often ;" " Over is not under ;''^ " An if ruins the 
case ;" '•'•Ah! is an interjection." We have here a part of a 
sentence, a verb in the infinitive mode, an adjective, an ad- 
verb, a preposition, a conjunction, and an interjection, used 
as substantives, and each the subject of a verb. 

Note 2. In Poetry, the verb may stand without a nominative 
in interrogative sentences, in cases where in prose the omis- 
sion would be improper; as, " Lives there who loves his pain?" 
- — Milton. That is, lives there a man who loves his pain ? 

Note 3. A verb in the Imperative mode is sometimes used 
Absolutely, having no direct reference to any particular sub- 
ject addressed ; as, <^ God said. Let there be light, and there 
was light." — Gen., i., 3. 

Note 4. A verb following the conjunction than sometimes 
stands without a nominative expressed ; as, " Not that any 
thing occurs in consequence of our late loss more afflict- 
ive than was to be expected.';' — Life of Cow per. Letter 62. 



SYNTAX OF THE VERB. 52S 

Forms of expression like this seem to be elliptical ; <« more 
afflictive than that which was to be expected." . 

Note 5. The verb is in some cases understood ; as, '< The 
combat deepens — on, ye brave !" Here rush or press is un- 
derstood before on. 

Note 6. We have one phrase in present use in which the 
personal pronoun me precedes a verb in the third person, me- 
thinks^ methought. Anciently, Mm was used in the same 
manner ; as, Him thuhte, him thought.— Alfred, Orosius, 
Him and me are here in the Anglo-Saxon dative case. Me 
thinks = it seems to me=mihi videtur. 

Note 7. The verbs need and v/ant are sometimes employed 
without a nominative, either expressed or implied ; as, " There 
is no evidence of the fact, and there needs none ;" " There 
wanted champions to espouse her cause." For the force of 
there^ see § 495. . 

'.'■■' ^ ( ' 

COLLOCATION. 

9 508. The Subject or Nominative usually precedes the 
verb in declaratory phrases ; as, " God created the world." 

Exception 1. The nominative often follows an intransitive 
verb, for as such a verb has no object after it, that position 
of the nominative creates no ambiguity : <' Above it stood the 
Seraphim y 

Exc. 2. The nominative may follow the verb, when the verb 
is preceded by here, there, hence, thence, then, thus, yet, so^ 
nor, neither, such, the same, herein, therein, wherein, and per- 
haps other words ; as, '^ Here are five men ;" ^' There was a 
man sent from God." 

Exc. 3. The nominative may follow the verb in the expres- 
sion of commands, requests, wishes ; as, '' Long live the kingP 

Exc. 4. The nominative may follow the verb when an em- 
phatical Adjective introduces the sentence ; as, *' Great is 
the Lord, Glorious are his works, and happy is the man who 
serves him." 

Exc. 5. In certain phrases which are conditional or hypo- 
thetical, the sign of the condition may be omitted and the 
nominative placed after the auxiliary ; as, '' Did he but know 
my anxiety." ' 



52^ SYNTACTICAL FORMS. 

Exc. 6. The nominative may follow the verb when the 
words whose^ his^ their ^ her^ mine, your, &dg., precede the verb 
with a governing word ; as, " Out of whose modifications 
have been made most complex modes." 

Exc. 7. In interrogative sentences the nominative follows 
the verb when alone, or the first auxiliary; as, ^^Believest 
thou? will he consent?'''' 

Exc. 8. When an infinitive mode or a sentence is the nom- 
inative case to the verb, it generally follows it, the pronoun 
" if standing as its representative before the verb ; as, '• It 
is difficult to climb the hill of science." 

CONCORD OF NUMBER. 

§ 509. Rule XXXIV. — The Verb agrees in number with 
the Subject, and only with the subject. 

Note 1. The only way to justify such an expression as the 
wages of sin is death, is to consider death not as the Predi- 
cate, but as the subject ; in other words, to consider the con- 
struction to be. Death is the ivages of sin. — Latham. 

Note 2. The word which comes first is always the Sub- 
ject, until the contrary is proved. 

Note 3. No number of connected singular nouns can gov- 
ern a Plural Verb, unless they be connected by a Copulative 
Conjunction : The sun and moon shine ; the sun in conjunc- 
tion with the moon shines. 

Note 4. Plural Subjects "with Singular Predicates : 
" The wages of sin are death." " Honest men are the salt 
of the earth." 

Note 5. Singular Subjects w^ith Plural Predicates. 
These constructions are rarer than the preceding, inasmuch 
as two or more persons (or things) are oftener spoken of as 
being equivalent to one, than one person (or thing) is spoken 
of as being equivalent to two or more : '^ Sixpence is twelve 
half pennies." '^ He is all head and shoulders." '' Vulnere 
totus eratP ^' Tu es delicice mece^ 

Note 6. The Same Form of the verb, whether simple, 
progressive, or emphatic, should be preserved throughout the 
sentence ; as, " The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away." 
" That man loves his friends and hates his enemies." '< He 



•?*U' 



SYNTAX OF THE VERB. 



52 5 



was writing' and he is writing,^'' '' He did love and he does 
love.''"' 

Note 7. The pronoun you, even when used to denote an 
individual, inasmuch as its form is plural, should have a 
Plural verb : '' The account you were pleased to send me," 
not " the account you was pleased to send me." 

§ 510. Rule XXXV. — -When a Verb has two or more sub- 
jects in the singular number, joined by the Copulative and^ 
it agrees with them in the Plural number ; as, '-'■ Reason and 
truth constitute intellectual Gold." Instead of saying rea- 
son constitutes intellectual Gold, Truth constitutes intel- 
lectual Gold, the two propositions are united in one compound 
sentence. The conjunction is sometimes understood ; as, 
" Honor, justice, religion itself, were derided." 

Note 1. This rule has in the practice of writers some ex- 
ceptions : '' Nor were the young fellows so wholly lost to a 
sense of right as pride and self-conceit has made thern affect 
to be." — Rambler^ No. 97. Here the verb, which is ex- 
pressed after self-conceit, is considered as understood after 
pride. " Their safety and welfare is most concerned."— 
Spectator, No. 121. This was the practice of Greek and 
Roman writers: '^Mens enim et ratio, et consilium in senibus 
65^." — Cicero, De Sen., cap. xix. See Homer's Iliad, i., 61. 
Forms of expression like these should not be encouraged in the 
English language, though they can be defended in some instan- 
ces on the ground of their expressing only one Complex idea. 

Note 2. Two or more nouns connected by the Conjunc- 
tion and, expressed or understood, and modified by the dis- 
tributives each, every, or either, uidLj have a Verb in the 
singular number : '' Either sex and every age was engaged 
in the pursuits of industry." — Gibbon's Roman Empire, chap. 
x. "The judicial and every other power is accountable to 
the legislative." — Paley's Philosophy, vi., 8. 

Note 3. Where comparison is expressed or implied, and 
not combination, the verb should be singular; thus, "Csesar 
as well as Cicero was remarkable for eloquence." Even 
when and is used, between two nouns, if a disuniting word is 
used with it, the verb should be in the singular number ; as, 
*< Good order, and not mean savings, produces honest profit." 



526 SYNTACTICAL FORMS, 

Note 4. When two nouns connected by and express but 
one subject, the verb should be in the singular number ; as, 
«' That great statesman and general is entitled to the grati- 
tude of his country." 

§ 511. Rule XXXVI. — -When a verb has for its subject 
only One of two or more substantives singular, it is itself in 
the Singular Number ; as, " Either John, or Peter, or James 
was dJi the Exchange yesterday, but neither John nor Peter 
is there to-day." 

Note 1. When a verb has nominatives of Different persons 
connected by the disjunctive conjunctions or or nor, it must 
agree with that which is nearest ; as, '< Neither you nor I 
am concerned." 

Note 2. When a verb has a singular and a plural nomina- 
tive connected by or or nor, it agrees with its nearest nom- 
inative ; as, '^ The dice-box or his cups were his ruin." 

CONCORD OF PERSON. 

§ 512, Rule XXXVII. — In sentences where there is but 
07ie proposition, when two or more subjects of different per- 
sons-are in apposition, the Vei'b agrees with the First of 
them ; as, " 7, your master, command you ;" << your master, 
I, commands you." 

1. The idea which comes first is the leading idea ; and the 
idea which explains, qualifies, or defines it is the subordinate 
idea ; and it is the leading idea which determines the con- 
struction of the verb ; and, in the example just given, the 
pronoun / expresses the leading idea. To illustrate this 
from the analogy of a similar construction with resj)ect to 
number : A man ivitk a horse and gig met rtie on the road. 
Here the ideas are three ; nevertheless, the Verb is singular. 
No addition of Subordinate elements interferes with the con- 
struction that is determined by the leading idea. In the ex- 
pression I, your master, the ideas are two, viz., the idea ex- 
pressed by /, and the idea expressed by master. Neverthe- 
less, as the one only explains or defines the other, the con- 
struction is the same as if the idea were single. Yotir master^ 
I, is in the same condition. The general statement is made 
concerning the master, and it is intended to say what he does. 



SYNTAX OF THE VERB. 



527 



The word /merely defines the expression by stating who the 
master is. Of the two expressions, the latter is the most awk- 
ward. The construction, however, is the same for both. 

2. The expression " It is J, your master^ who command (or 
commands) yoii^'^ is not a single proposition. It is a sentence 
containing two propositions. Litis I. 2. WIio commands you. 
Here the word master is undistributed. It may belong to 
either clause of the sentence, i. e., the whole sentence may 
be divided into, either It is I your master^ or Your master 
wJio commands you. This is the first point to observe. 

The next is, that the Verb in the Second clause (command 
or commands) is governed not by either the Personal Pro- 
noun or the Substantive, but by the Relative, i. e., in the 
particular case before us, not by either I or master, but by 
ivho. And this brings us to the following question : With 
which of the two Antecedents does the Relative agree ? with 
I or with master ? This may be answered by the two fol- 
lowing rules : 

1. When the two Antecedents are in the same Proposi- 
tion, the Relative agrees with the first. Thus : 1. It is J 
your master. 2. Who command you. 

2. When the two Antecedents are in different propositions, 
the Relative agrees with the second. Thus : 1. It is J. 
2. Your master who commands you. ' . 

But what determines whether the two antecedents are in 
the same or in different propositions? For the distribution 
of the Substantive Antecedent, the two following rules should 
be observed : 

1. That when there is any natural connection between the 
Substantive Antecedent and the Verb governed by the Rela- 
tive, the Antecedent belongs to the second clause. Thus, in 
the expression just quoted, the word master h logically con- 
nected with the word command, and this fact makes the ex- 
pression. It is I your master who commands you, the best of 
the two. 

2. That when there is no natural connection between the 
Substantive Antecedent and the verb governed by the Rela- 
tive, the Antecedent belongs to the first clause : It is I, John, 
who command (not commands) you. 



528 SYNTACTICAL FORMS. 

To recapitulate, the train of reasoning has been as follows : 

1. The Person of the second Verb is the Person of the 
^Relative. 

2. The person of the Relative is that of one of two Ante- 
cedents. 

3. Of such two Antecedents the Relative agrees v^ith the 
one which stands in the same proposition with itself. 

4. Which proposition is determined by the connection or 
want of connection between the substantive Antecedent and 
the Verb governed by the Relative. 

Respecting the Person of the verb in the first proposition 
of a complex sentence there is no doubt : I your master^ who 
commands you to make haste^ a^n (not is^ in a hurry. Here 
I am in a hurry is the first proposition ; ivho commands you 
to make haste., the second. 

§ 513. Rule XXXVIII. — When a verb has for its subject 
a Collective Noun, it can agree with it either in the Singular 
or the PluraL number ; as, '' The council is or are unani- 
mous ;" '' the company was or ivere collected ;" <' a part of the 
exports consists or consist of raw silk." 

Note 1. Much regard is to be had to usage, and to unity 
or plurality of idea. In general, modern practice inclines to 
the use of the plural verb. " The clergy began to withdraw 
themselves from the temporal courts." — Blackstone. " The 
chorus prepare resistance at his first approach ; the chorus 
sings of the battle." — Johnson's Life of Milt07i. 

Note 2. The most common mistakes in the application of 
this rule occur in the use of sort and kind^ with a plural pro- 
noun ; as, '^ These sort are good;" ''those kind are bad;" 
for this sort., that kind. 

Note 3. When a collective noun is preceded by a definitive 
which clearly limits the sense of the word to the idea of 
unity, it requires a verb and a pronoun to agree with it in 
the singular number ; as, "A company of troops was raised." 
" This people has become a great nation." 

GOVERNMENT OF VERBS. 

§ 514. Rule XXXIX. — Transitive Verbs govern the Ob- 
jective case ; as, ''God created the world f^ <' We honor himr 



SYNTAX OF THE VERB. 



529 



Note 1. The Government of Verbs is of two sorts, the Ob- 
jective and the Modal. It is Objective when the noun which 
follows the verb is the name of some object affected by the 
verb; as, He strikes me; he wounds the enemy. It is Mo- 
dal when the noun which follows the verb is not the name of 
any object affected by the action of the Verb, but the name 
of some object explaining the manner in which the action of 
the Verb takes place ; the instrument with which it is done, 
and the end for which it is done, etc. 

The Government of all Transitive Verbs is necessarily 
Objective. It may also be Modal : I strike the enemy luith 
the sivord=ferio hostem gladio. The Government of all 
Intransitive Verbs can be only Modal : I walk with the stick. 
When we say, '< I w^alk the horse," the word ivalk has 
changed its meaning, and signifies make to walk, and is, by 
the very fact of its being followed by the name of an object, 
converted from an Intransitive into a Transitive verb. 

The Modal Construction may also be called the adverbial 
construction, because the effect of the noun is akin to that 
of an Adverb: I fight with bravery =^ I fight bravely; He 
walks a king=he walks regally. The Modal (or Adverb- 
ial) Construction (or Government) sometimes takes the ap- 
pearance of the Objective, inasmuch as Intransitive verbs are 
frequently followed by a Substantive, which Substantive is in 
the Objective Case. Nevertheless, this is no proof of govern- 
ment. For a verb to be capable of governing an Objective 
Case, it must be a Verb signifying an action affecting an ob- 
ject ; and if there be no such object, there is no room for any 
Objective Government : To break the sleep of the righteous, 
is to affect by breaking the sleep of the righteous : But to 
sleep the sleep of the righteous, is not to affect by sleeping 
the sleep of the righteous ; since the act of sleeping is an act 
that affects no object whatever. It is a state. To sleep the 
sleep of the righteous, is to sleep after the manner of the 
sleep of the righteous, and the construction is Adverbial. 
Modal verbs are, 1. Traditive ; as, I give the book to you= 
do librum tibi. 2. Instrumental ; as, I fight with a sword 
z=pugno ense =feohte sweorde, Anglo-Saxon. 3. Emphatic; 
as, He sleeps the sleep of the righteous. 

Ll 



530 SYNTACTICAL FORMS. 

Note 2. No verb in the present English governs the Geni- 
tive Case. In Anglo-Saxon certain verbs did ; e. g., Verbs of 
ruling-, and others : weolde thisses middangeardes =lie ruled 
this eartli's. Genitive cases governed by a verb are common 
both in Latin and Greek. To eat of the fruit of the tree 
is no Genitive construction, hov/ever much it may be equiv- 
alent to one. Fruit is in the objective case, and is governed 
by the preposition of The word give and a few others gov- 
ern the Dative case ; the phrases give it him, whom shall 
I give it ? are perfectly correct, and do not require a preposi- 
tion ; as, Give it to him; to whom shall I give it? 

Note 3. The Partitive Construction. Certain Transitive 
verbs, the action whereof is extended not to the whole, but 
only to a part of their object, are followed by the preposition 
of and are in the objective case. To eat of the fruit of the 
tree = to eat a part of the fruit of the tree ; to drink -of the 
ivater of the well = to drink a part (or some) of the water 
of the well. It is not necessary here to suppose the ellipsis 
of the words part (or some). The construction is a construc- 
tion that has grown out of the partitive power of the Geni- 
tive case ; of which Case the preposition of serves as an 
equivalent. 

Note 4. The forms like I believe it to- be him, are logic- 
ally correct, rather than the forms like I believe it to be he. 
Here the word to be is, in respect to its power, a noun. As 
such, it is in the Accusative Case after the verb believe. 
With this Accusative infinitive it agrees as being part of 
the same complex idea. And him does the same. In En- 
glish we have two methods of expressing one idea ; the method 
in question, and the method by means of the conjunction that : 
1. I believe it to be him. 2. I believe that it is he. In the 
lirst example it is the Object, and it-to-be-him forms one 
complex proposition. In the second, he agrees with it ; and 
it is the subject of a separate, though connected, preposition. 
Of these two forms the Latin Language expresses but one, 
viz., the former : credo eum esse, not credo quod illud est ille. 

The Classical Languages, although they have but one of 
the two previous forms, are enabled to effect a variation in 
the application of it, which, though perhaps illogical, is con- 



SYNTAX OF THE VERB. ^^1 

venierit. "When the speaker means himself, the noun that 
follows esse J or stvai, is Nominative, ^tj[ii elvat de(jn6Trjg = I 
say that I am the master; ait fuisse celerrimus = he says 
that he himself is the swiftest ; but (prjiii elvat deo-norav^ I say- 
that (some one else) is the master ; and ait fuisse celerrimum 
=^he says that he (some one else) is the swiftest. This, though 
not adopted in English, is capable of being adopted. He be- 
lieves it to be he (i. e., the speaker) who invented the machine ; 
but he believes it to be him (that is another person) who in- 
vented it.—-^QQ Latham, p. 474. 

Note 5. Transitive verbs admit of a sentence, a clause, or 
a number of words as their object ; as, <^ He is not alarmed 
so far as to consider^ how much nearer he approaches his 
e'jfidP Here the meaning of the transitive verb Consider falls 
on the following clause. " If he escapes being banished by 
others, I fear he will banish himself." Here being banished 
stands in the place of a noun, as the object often escapes. 

Note 6. Some Transitive verbs govern two nouns in the 
objective case when in the Active form, and one when in the 
Passive. See § 456. 

Note 7. Some Transitive verbs stand without their com* 
plementary objective case after them; as, ''He reads." 

Note 8. Some verbs were formerly used as transitive verbs 
which are no longer considered such; as, " He repented him;''"' 
'''•Flee thee away." 

Note 9. Sometimes the verb comes after the objective 
case; as, ''She with extended arms his aid implores f 
" Whom ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you." 
Wliom and which always precede the verb. A noun with 
whatever^ tvhatsoever, or whichsoever preceding it, is placed 
before the governing verb ; as, " Wliatsoever positive ideas we 
have." 

Note 10. Idiomatic expressions sometimes occur, in which 
the active form of the transitive verb is used in a sense 
nearly allied to the passive ; as, " The goods sell rapidly ;" 
" the cloth tea7^s ;" " the ground plows well." 

Note 11. Intransitive verbs are sometimes improperly used 
as Transitive verbs ; as, " If Jove this arm succeeds 

Note 12. Transitive verbs are sometimes improperly used 



532 SYNTACTICAL FORMS. 

as Intransitive verbs; as, <' I must premise with three cir- 
cumstances." 

§ 515. E/ULE XL. — Intransitive verbs are followed by nouns 
kindred to them in signification ; as, " To live a life of vir- 
tue ;" '« to sleep the sleep of death." 

Note 1. Nearly allied to this idiom is that of using after 
verbs Transitive or Intransitive certain nouns which are not 
the objects of the verb, nor of precisely the same sense ; as, 
*'The lump of gold weighs two ounces f ''the cloth meas- 
ures three yards." " And on their hinges grate harsh thun- 
der ;" "the crisped brook ran nectar;''^ ''Grin a ghastly 
smile." Some verbs of this sort are followed by two objects : 
" The hat cost him five dollar s^ 

Note 2. There are some verbs which may be used Transi- 
tively or Intransitively ; as, " I shall do the business ;" "I 
shall do as I promised." 

Note 3. The Objective after a verb in the active voice be- 
comes the Nominative before the verb in the passive voice. 
The nominative before the verb in the active voice is joined 
to the passive verb by the preposition by : "Caesar conquered 
Pompey at Pharsalia ;" ^' Pompey was conquered by Ccesar 
at Pharsalia." 

THE SUBSTANTIVE VERB. 

§ 516. Rule XLI. — The Substantive ve^ am, and some 
others, admit after them a Predicate noun in the same case 
as the Subject ; as, " Hannibal ivas a famous Carthaginian 
General f "Washington was chosen commander-in-chief f"* 
'< He IV as called the arch-magician ;" " He will turn otit a 
villain^ 

Note 1. No verb governs the nominative case. The Ap- 
positional construction, " she walks a Queen,'''' seems to re- 
quire such a form of government, but the form is only appar- 
ent. " It is I ;" " it is thou ;" " it is he ;" "it is we ;" " it 
is you ;" " it is they." Here, though the word is is followed 
by a nominative case, it by no means governs one. A dis- 
tinction should be made between the sense of the Substan- 
tive verb as a formal v/ord and as an essential word. When 
used in the former relation, it is a verb only for the purposes 



SYNTAX OF THE VERB. 533 

of Etymology. In syntax it is only a part of a verb, i. e., 
the Copula. Now this fact changes the question of con- 
struction in expressions like it is I from a point of Govern- 
ment to a point of Concord. In the example it is I, it, is, 
and /are respectively subject, copula, a-ud predicate, and it 
is the function of the copula to denote the agreement be- 
tween the Predicate and the Subject. The real point to in- 
vestigate is the nature of the concord between the two parts 
of the proposition. 

Now the predicate need agree with the subject in case 
only. 1. It has no necessary Concord in Gender : She is a 
man in courage ; He is a woman in effeminacy ; It is a 
girl. 2. It has no necessary Concord in Number : Death 
is the wages of sin; It is those that do the mischief. 3. It 
has no necessary Concord in Person : I am he ivhom you 
mean. 4. It has, however, a necessary Concord in Case. 
Nothing but a nominative case can by itself constitute a term 
of either kind, Subject or Predicate ; hence both terms must 
be in the nominative, and consequently in the same case. 
Expressions like this is for me are Elliptical. The logical 
expression is, this is a thing for me. The Predicate must 
be of the same case with its Subject; hence the Copula, in- 
stead of determining a case, expresses a Concord. 

Note 2. The construction of a Subject and Copula pre- 
ceded by the conjunction that is the same, in respect to the 
predicate by which they are followed, as if the sentence were 
an isolated proposition ; as, I believe that it is he, not I be- 
lieve that it is him. I believe = 1 am believing, and forms 
one proposition. It is he forms a second. That connects 
the two, but belongs to neither. Now as the relation be- 
tween the subject and the predicate of a proposition can not 
be affected by a word which does not belong to it, the con- 
struction is the same as if the propositions were wholly sep- 
arate. — See Latham, p. 475. 

Note 3. When the Substantive Infinitive to be is preceded 
by a Passive Participle, combined with the verb Substantive, 
the construction is Nominative : It is believed to be he who 
spoke, not it is believed to be him. Here there are two 
propositions: 1. It is believed : 2. Who spoke. Here it is 



534 SYNTACTICAL FORMS. 

the Subject, and, as such. Nominative to the verb. But it 
is also equivalent to to be he, which must also be nominative 
as well. To be he is believed = esse ille creditur. 

Note 4. Sometimes both the subject and the predicate pre- 
cede the substantive verb ; as, " I do not know ivho he is." 

Note 5. When the substantive verb itself contains the 
predicate, it sometimes takes the pronominal adverb '' there,'''' 
and stands before its Subject; as, ** There is no virtue ex- 
tant." In this case the verb expresses existence, and is not 
a mere copula. Another view of this case is, that the word 
there itself is the predicate. 

§ 517. Verbs which admit a predicate after them, whether 
an adjective agreeing with the subject, or a substantive in 
the same case with the subject, have been called Copulative 
Verbs, from the predominance in them of the Copulative ele- 
ment. They have also been called Appositional Verbs ; as, 
" I know not whether others share in my feelings on this 
point, but I have often thought that if I were compelled to 
forego England, and to live in China, among Chinese man- 
ners, and modes of life, and scenery, I should go mad.^^ — 
Thomas De Quincei/. " He obliged the Nile to run bloody 
for your sakes." In these examples the ivhole predicate is 
made up of the predicate element in the verb, taken with the 
adjective. Each verb may be viewed as a strengthened 
Copula. The verbs to become, to grow, to remain, to seem, 
to be chosen, to be named, to feel, as to feel strong, and 
many others, belong to this class. 

THE SYNTAX OF THE INFINITIVE MODE. 

§ 518. Rule XLII. — As the Infinitive Mode is the Noun 
of the verb, nomen verbi, it performs in construction the of- 
fices of a noun. 

1. It is used as the Subject or nominative of a verb ; as, 
<'- To sleep is refreshing." 

2. It is put in the Objective case after a Transitive verb 
or a preposition; as, "He loves to fight ;''^ "What went ye 
out for to see .^" 

3. It can have an Adjective qualifying it; as, " To err is 
human. ''^ 



SYNTAX OF THE VERB. 535 

4. It can be substituted for a Noun ; as, '' To forgive is 
d.iYm.Q= forgiveness is divine." 

When we say that a verb in the Infinitive Mode may- 
perform the functions of a noun, we only say that the name 
of any action may be used without any mention of an agent. 
Thus we speak of the simple fact of walking or moving^ 
independently of any specification of the walker or the 
mover. When actions are thus spoken of independently, 
the idea of Person and Number has no place in the concep- 
tion ; from which it follows that the so-called infinitive mode 
must be at once impersonal and without the distinction of 
number. 

§ 519. Rule XLIII. — A verb in the Infinitive Mode enters 
into construction : a. In dependence on another Verb ; as, 
^'' I read to learn." h. In dependence upon a Substantive; 
as, ^'Eagerness to learn." c. In dependence upon an Ad- 
jective; as, ^^ Eager to learn." d.ln dependence upon an 
Adverb ; as, " Hoiv to learn." e. In dependence on a con- 
junction ; as, '' An object so high as to be invisible." /. As a 
phrase, or part of phrase absolute ; as, " To confess the truth , 
I was in fault." 

Note 1. In the two phrases, "I love to learn ;" " I read to 
learn," the Infinitive " to learn,''^ in each case, is said to be 
governed by the verb which it follows, or to depend upon it ; 
but it is governed in a different sense in the one case from 
what it is in the other. / love to. learn. Here the Govern- 
ment is Objective. / read to learn. Here the Government 
is Modal. The word for might be brought in according to 
an ancient usage, as in the question, '' What went ye out 
for to see ?" Instead of an Accusative there is a Dative 
relation. The real objective case is understood. " I read 
(Virgil) to learn." To learn is the Infinitive expressing pur- 
pose. 

Note 2. The Infinitive of the Substantive verb has the 
same case after it as before it ; as. They supposed us to be 
them. In Interrogative sentences, both of the cases some- 
times precede ; as. Whom do you suppose him to be ? 

Note 3. Some verbs are immediately followed by an Infin- 
itive when the Object is the same as the Subject, but are fol- 



536 SYNTACTICAL FORMS. 

lowed by the Accusative and the Infinitive when the object 
is different ; as, " I wish to go ;" " I wish him to go." 

Note 4. Many verbs are never followed by the Infinitive 
without the Accusative, except in the passive voice ; as, "I 
advised him to do it ;" but passively, " I am advised to do 
it." In this construction the accusative may be considered 
as both the object of the finite verb and the. subject of the 
infinitive mode. 

Note 5. An Infinitive, though it often comes last in the sen- 
tence, is never the Predicate, except when another infinitive 
is the subject; as, '' To enjoy is to obey." 

Note 6. The Infinitive, signifying motive or purpose, often 
introduces a clause or sentence which is not the nominative 
or objective to any verb ; as, " To see how far this reaches, 
and what are the causes of wrong judgment, we are to re- 
member that things are judged good or bad in a double sense." 

Note 7.. The Infinitive is sometimes used absolutely; as, 
" To confess the truth, I was not present." 

§ 520. Rule XLIV. — The verbs Bid^ make, feel, see, hear, 
let, dare, need, do, have, may, can, will, shall, must, are fol- 
lowed by the Infinitive, without the preposition to ; as, "I bid 
her alight;^'' "I make him go;'"' "I feel the pain abate f^ 
'-* I saw him fallf " We heard him say f"^ " He let me go f'^ 
"I dare go f "I need not go f "I do g*o;" "Would they 
have us go f '' I may go f " I can go f " I will go f^ " I 
shall go f ''I must goP Some other verbs are sometimes 
in the same construction ; as, Observe, perceive, know, help. 

Note 1. Dare, Transitive, is followed by the preposition 
to, with the Infinitive ; as, ''I dare you to do itP 

Note 2. Need, when Transitive, is regular in its inflections ; 
but when Intransitive, it drops the personal terminations in 
the present tense, is formed like the auxiliaries, and followed 
by the verb without the prefix to; as, ''I 7ieed not go any 
further;" "She need dig no more." — Spectator, No. 121. 
" He need not urge this Honorable court." To this there are 
exceptions ; as, 

"Vice is a monster of so frightful mien, 
That to be hated needs but to be seen." — Pope. 

In the use of this verb there is another irregularity which 



SYNTAX OF THE VERB. 



537 



is peculiar, the verb being without a nominative expressed or 
implied. '' Whereof here needs no account." — Milton's Far- 
adise Lost, iv., 235. ^' There is no evidence of the fact, and 
there needs none." Have, signifying possession or obligationj 
is generally followed by to; as, ''I had to do this." When 
it implies volition, to is generally omitted ; as, ^' Would you 
have us reject such an offer ?" And yet we find, " Him would 
Paul have to go forth with him." See § 507. 

Make, in the language of Scripture, is followed by to; as, 
" He maketh his sun to rise^ It should be added that, with 
the exception of let, the to is seldom or never omitted after 
the perfect participle used passively ; as, '' We are bidden to 
rest;^^ '^ He was seen to movey 

The construction of English Infinitives is two-fold : (1.) Ob- 
jective. (2.) Gerundial. 

When one verb is followed by another, without the Prepo- 
sition to, the construction must be considered to have grown 
out of the Objective Case, or from the form in -an. This in 
the present English is the rarer of the two constructions. 
See § 275. 

When a verb is followed by another, preceded by the Prep- 
osition to, the construction must be considered to have grown 
out of the so-called Gerund, that is, the form in -nne, i. e., the 
Dative case : I begin to move. This is the construction with 
the great majority of English verbs. 

Note 3. The Infinitive present standing after have, in some 
cases expresses a duty, or task, or necessity ; as, ''I have to 
ivork for my bread." 

When an Infinitive clause follows a transitive verb, the 
pronoun " iV^ is often placed immediately after the verb, and 
the infinitive placed in apposition to it ; as, ''I found it to no 
purpose to lay much stress on those texts that are usually 
alleged on the occasion.'^'' 

THE IMPERATIVE MODE, 

§ 521. EuLE XLV. — Forms in the Imperative Mode have 
in English three peculiarities : 

1. They have a simple form for the Second Person; as, 
'« Love thou ;" the third being expressed by a circumlocution ; 
as, " Let hira love." 



538 SYNTACTICAL FORMS. 

2. They take pronouns after instead of before them, as in 
the example given. 

3. They often omit the pronoun altogether ; as, ''Love." 
§ 522. The effect of any degree of passion h, pro tanto^ to 

interrupt and modify the processes of reasoning. Reasoning 
is conducted by direct assertion, absolute or conditional. 
Passion goes at once to its object, assuming it as the conse- 
quence of an indirect assertion. Thus, if the fact be that I 
desire that a person should go to any place, it is not neces- 
sary for me to state my desire in the indicative mode, and 
his going in the infinitive, or subjunctive, or potential : " I 
desire you to go ;" or, " I desire that you go ;" or, " I desire 
that you should go ;" but, by the natural impulse of my feel- 
ings, I say, " Go /" Now this mode, from its frequent use 
in giving commands to inferiors, has been called the Impera- 
tive. Under this general term may be included not only a 
command; as, ''Let there be light," but also a wish ex- 
pressed ; as, '''Let confusion live ;" and a prayer offered ; as, 
^' Help me, Lysander, help me;" and a permission given; 
as, " Go^ but be moderate in your food." In all of them the 
assertion of desire on the part of the speaker is clearly im- 
plied. The sense is, " I command that there be light ;" "I 
wish that confusion may prevail ;" " Ipray you to help me;" 
*' I permit you to go." 

THE SUBJUNCTIVE MODE. 

§ 523. Rule XL VI. — In conditional expressions, the Sub- 
junctive Mode generally follows the Conjunction which ex- 
presses the condition ; as, " i/ thy brother trespass against 
thee, rebuke him ; and if he repent^ forgive him." "Though 
he were dead, yet shall he live again." 

The current statement is, that the conditional expression 
must imply both doubt and futurity in order to require the 
Subjunctive Mode. 

Note 1. The sign of the condition is sometimes omitted ; 
as, " Were he to read hard for the next six months, he would 
probably be admitted to the bar." 

Note 2. Words like except, so, &c., which express condi- 
tion, are followed by the Subjunctive Mode ; as, " Except I 



SYNTAX OF THE VERB. 539 

he by Silvia in the night, there is no music in the nightin- 
gale." 

" Revenge back on itself recoils ; 
Let it, I reck not, so it light well aimed." 

"' They deck it with silver and gold ; they fasten it with nails 
and hammers, that it move not." ^' For these mid hours till 
evening rise I have at will." 

§ 524. Expressions like though and although ^yq peculiar. 
They join propositions, of which one is prima facie reason 
against the existence of the other ; and this is the conditional 
element. In the sentence, if the children he so hadly hrought 
up, they are not to be trusted, the had hringing up is the rea- 
son for their being unfit to he trusted, and, as far as the ex- 
pression is concerned, is admitted to be so. The only uncer- 
tainty lies in the question as to the degree of the badness of 
the education. The inference from it is unequivocal. 

But if, instead of saying if we say although, and omit 
the word not, so that the sentence runs although the children 
he so badly brought up, they are to be trusted, we do two 
things : we indicate the general relation of cause and effect 
which exists between bad bringing up and unfitness for be- 
ing trusted, but we also take an exception to it in the par- 
ticular instance before us. These remarks have been made 
for the sake of showing the extent to which words like though^ 
&c., are conditional. 

, It must be remembered, however, that Conjunctions like 
the one lately quoted do not govern the Subjunctive Mode 
because they are conditional, but because, in the particular 
condition which they accompany, there is an element of un- 
certainty. See § 556. 

TENSES. 

§ 525. Rule XL VII. — To express the different relations 
of Time, the appropriate Tenses of the verb should be care- 
fully employed. See § 258. 

1. The Past improperly used for the Present Tense: "A 
stranger to the poem would not easily discover that this was 
(is) verse ;" "He announced to the world that air was (is) 
elastic." 



54 SYNTACTICAL FORMS. 

2. The Present Perfect improperly used for the Past : 
*' The Lord hath given [gave) and the Lord hath taken 
away ;" ''I have seen (saio) the coronation at Westminster 
last, summer." 

3. The Present improperly used for the Present Perfect ! 
" They continue (have continued^ with me three days." 

4. The Past improperly used for the Past Perfect: "They 
arrived (had arrived^ before we reached the city." 

5. The Future improperly used for the Future Perfect : 
"The workmen will finish (ivill have finished) the business 
at mid-summer." 

6. The Present Perfect improperly used for the Present : 
" All the present family have been (are) much indebted to 
their great and honorable ancestor." 

7. The Past improperly used for the Present Perfect : 
" This curious piece of workmanship was preserved and 
shown (lias been preserved and shown) to strangers for more 
than fifty years." 

8. The auxiliary should \^ improperly used for would; as, 
"On the morrow, because he should have known (would 
know) the certainty wherefore he was accused of the Jews." 

9. The Indicative Present is correctly used after the words 
when^ till^ before, as soon as, after, to express the relative 
time of a Future action : as, " When the mail arrives he 
will come." 

10. The Infinitive Present Perfect is incorrectly used for 
the Present ; as, " The last work I intended to have written 
(to write) P 

11. When a verb in the Present Perfect tense is preceded 
by when, as soon as, before, till, or after, it performs the 
office of the Future Perfect ; as, ^^ Before he has been there, 
I shall arrive." 

§ 526. " There is something peculiar in the use of the 
Preterite Tense. Take the following case : A servant calls 
on me for a book ; if I am uncertain whether I have it or 
not, I answer, < If the book be in my library, or if I have the 
book, your master is welcome to it ;' but if I am certain that 
I have not the book, I say, ' If the book were in my library, 
or if I had the book, it should be at your master's service.' 



SYNTAX OF THE VERB. 5 4 j_ 

Here it is obvious that when we use the Present tense it 
implies uncertainty of the fact, and when we use the Pre- 
terite, it implies a negation of its existence. Thus, also, a 
person at night would say to his friend, ' If it rain you shall 
not go,' being uncertain at the time whether it did or did not 
rain ; but if, on looking out, he perceived it did not rain, he 
would then say, ' If it rained you should not go,' intimating 
that it did not rain." — Webster's Dissertations, p. 263 

SYNTAX OF PARTICIPLES. 

§ 527. Rule XL VIII. — The Present and the Compound 
Participles of Transitive verbs in the active voice govern the 
objective case ; as, "He was striking himf ^^ Having struck 
liim^ he proceeded to other acts of violence." 

§ 528. Rule XLIX. — The Present, the Past, and the Com- 
pound Participles of Transitive and of Intransitive verbs, like 
Adjectives, belong to Substantives; as, "JJe, watching the 
coming storm, prepared to meet it ;" '' The risen sun has 
scattered the collected clouds;" ^^ Having slept during the 
night, the traveler went on his way." 

Like adjectives, participles belong to sentences and parts 
of sentences. A participle with the prefix un often becomes 
an adjective ; as. Unhidden. If the verb also has the prefix, 
the participle retains the quality of a verb, instead of becom- 
ing an adjective; as, ^^ Unfolding''^ from '^ unfold P Many 
words originally participles have in use become adjectives ; 
as, ''''Writing paper ;" '' looking glass." 

§ 529. Rule L. — The Present and the Compound Par- 
ticiples of Transitive and of Intransitive verbs, like Nouns, 
are put in the Nominative case, or in the Objective case, or 
govern the Possessive Case ; as, *' The reading of the report 
occupied an hour ;" ^''Writing requires more effort than talk- 
ing ;" " Its excesses may be restrained without destroying 
its existence ;" " He was displeased with the king's having 
disposed of the office, or with his having bestowed it upon 
an unworthy man." «' This did not prevent John's being 
acknowledged and solemnly inaugurated Duke of Nor- 
mandy." 

Note 1. When the Present Participle is preceded by a or 



542 SYNTACTICAL FORMS. 

the^ it takes the character of a Noun, and is generally fol- 
lowed by the preposition of; as, '^ The middle station of life 
seems to be advantageously situated for the gaining of wis- 
dom." 

Note 2. Without the article preceding it, this participle be- 
comes a noun in certain constructions. The participle is 
used in many languages as a Substantive. Thus, in the 
QxQQk^'O '[TpdGab)v=the actor when a male, 'H 7rpa(7(To{;(7a=: 
the actress when a female. To irpdiTov =the active principle 
of a thing. It is stated that in the English language the 
Participle is used as a Substantive in a greater degree than 
elsewhere, and that it is used in several cases, and in both 
numbers; as, ^''Rising early is healthy;" "there is health 
in rising early ;" " this is the advantage of early rising ;'''* 
" the risings of the North," etc. 

Note 3. The Present and the Compound participles often 
perform at once the office of a verb and a noun ; as, '' He can 
not avoid receiving punishment;" " taking a madman's sword 
to prevent his doing mischief." 

Note 4. The Participle in ing is not unfrequently used in 
a Passive sense ; as, '< The nation had cried out loudly against 
the crime while it was commzY<(m^."— Bolingbroke on His- 
tory, Letter 8. " My lives are reprinting P — Dr. Johnson. 
" The house is building." 

If we use the phrase *' the house is hidlding ^■'' we speak 
of it as a thing, from its very nature, not acting itself, and 
we use the term building as expressive of a passive progress- 
ive condition of the house. If we say the '' men are build- 
ing^^'' we then have active instruments, and the term build- 
ing is an active participle, requiring to be followed by a noun ; 
as, *' Building a wall, a castle." 

Expressions like the following have for some years been 
stealing into the language : <' While the house was being 
burned^'' instead of <' while the house was burning ;" ^' while 
the battle was being fought," instead of " while the battle 
was fought." Some expressions like these are awkward, and 
difficult to be dealt with. And is it not better to say, '« He 
will find the house building ^^^ than to say, " He will find the 
house will be being built 2^'' Is it not better to say, " I knew 



SYNTAX OF THE VERB. 543 

the house to be building ^''^ than to say, " I knew the house 
to be being built 7^'' 

These expressionB are not yet sanctioned by the highest au- 
thority. On the other hand, the best writers of the present 
time use expressions like '< is making," " is doing," instead 
of '* is being made," '^ is being done." For the analogous 
use of verbs in the Active form with a Passive meaning, see 
§ 514, 10. 

Note 5. A Participle is sometimes used absolutely, without 
any noun, pronoun, or sentence on which it depends ; as, " It 
is not possible to act otherwise, considering the weakness of 
our nature ;" '' Generally speaking, the heir at law is not 
bound by the will of the testator." 

Note 6. The Past participle and the Preterite are some- 
times indiscriminately used : Thus, begun is improperly used 
for the preterite began, and the Preterite spoke is improp- 
erly used for the Past participle spoken. 

Note 7. " Notwithstanding the objections of Lowth, Lind- 
ley Murray, and others, it may be safely affirmed that the 
several phraseologies, ^' By sending them ;" " by sending of 
them ;" " by the sending them ;" " by the sending of them ;" 
in all which the word ending in ing is nothing but a verbal 
noun, are sanctioned by the usage of our best writers, and are 
perfectly accordant with the genius of the language. I cer- 
tainly prefer, as forms, " By sending them," and *' by the 
sending of them," and allow that when the verbal is preceded 
by the indefinite article, the of is very rarely omitted. But, 
contrary to the opinion of Lindley Murray, it is unquestiona- 
bly better to say, '' By his sending them," " their sending 
them," than <* his sending of them," '' their sending o/them," 
and to say, " much depends on John's observing the rule," 
than ''on John's observing o/the rule." 

But there is a manifest difierence in sense between ''Plear- 
ing the philosopher," or " the hearing the philosopher," and 
" the hearing of the philosopher." — Grant. 

Note 8. In the combination, I have ridden a horse, the 
participle may be regarded as in the accusative case. I have 
ridden a horse = I have a horse ridden = I have a horse as 
a ridden thing. 



544 SYNTACTICAL FORMS. 



EXERCISES IN THE SYNTAX OF THE VERB. 

§ 530. Rule XXXIII.— The Normans, under which general 
term is comprehended the Danes, Norwegians, and Swedes, 
were accustomed to rapine and slaughter. F. S. 

1. Early to bed and early to rise, 
Makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise. C. S. 

That warm climates should accelerate the growth of the 
human body, and shorten its duration, is very reasonable to 
believe. C. S. 

For a lady to conduct herself in this manner is disgrace- 
ful. C. S. 

2. There have been that have delivered themselves from 
their ills by their good fortune or their virtue. F. S. 

3. The expense amounted to, say five dollars. C. S. 

4. He felt himself addicted to philosophical speculations 
with more ardor than consisted well with the duties of a Ro- 
man and a senator. C. S. 

5. Charge, Chester, charge ! on, Stanley, on ! C. S. 

6. Methinks already I your tears survey. C. S. 

7. There needed a new dispensation of religion for the 
moral reform of society. C. S. 

§ 531. Rule XXXIV.— 1. Death is the wages of sin. C. S. 

2. Washington was a patriot. C. S. 

3. A gentleman, with his wife and children, was present. 
C. S. 

4. Locusts and wild honey were his meat. C. S. 

5. He is all head and shoulders. C. S. 

6. He was writing, and he does write. F. S. 

7. Knowing you was my old master's Friend. F. S. 

§ 532. Rule XXXV. — Religion and virtue, our best sup- 
port and highest honor, confers on the mind principles of no- 
ble independence. F. S. 

1. Their safety and welfare is most concerned. F. S. 

2. Every man and every woman were numbered. F. S. 

3. That superficial scholar and critic, like some renowned 
critics of our own, have furnished most decisive proofs that 
they knew not the characters of the Hebrew language. F. S. 



SYNTAX OF THE VERB. 



545 



Virtuous effort, and not depraved genius, win the prize. 
F. S. 

4. That distinguished philosopher and celebrated poet are 
receiving the meed of praise. F. S. 

§ 533. Rule XXXVI. — There are many faults in spelling 
which neither analog^ nor pronunciation justify. F. S. 

1. I or thou am the person who must undertake the busi- 
ness proposed. F, S. 

2. He or they is to blame. F. S. , 

§ 534. Rule XXX VIL — I your master command you ; 
your master, I command you. 

§ 535. Rule XXXVIII. — An army was led against him ; 
the army were scattered through the provinces. C. S. 

1. The Court have passed sentence on the criminal. F. S. 

2. Those kind of indulgences soften and injure the mind. 
F,.S. 

3. That assembly were numerous. F. S. 

§ 536. Rule XXXIX. — The man who he raised from ob- 
scurity is dead. F. S. 

1. He struck him ; he struck him with a cane. C. S. 

2. With some paper, I gave him a pen. C. S. 

3. He took of the water of the spring. C. S. 

4. On my honor I believe it to be they. F. S. 

5. Suppose, then, the world we live in to have had a cre- 
ator ? C. S. 

6. They asked me the news ; they were asked a ques- 
tion. C. S. 

7. He writes in Blackwood's Magazine. C. S. 

8. They have spent their whole time and pains to agree 
the sacred with the profane chronology. F. S. 

9. But through the heart should jealousy its venom once 
diffuse. C. S. 

10. These lines read well. C. S. 
This is not fit to eat. C. S. 

11. This is true power ; it approaches men to gods. F. S. 

12. Those that think to ingratiate with him by calumni- 
ating me. F. S. 

§ 537. Rule XL. — He ran the race of Godliness. C. S. 
1. A crown weighs nineteen pennyweights. C. S. 

Mm 



546 SYNTACTICAL FORMS. 

2. These victories swelled his fame. C. S. 
He swelled with rage. C. S. 

§ 538. Rule XLI. — He declared that Catiline was a trait- 
or. C. S. 

1. She walks a goddess, and she moves a queen. C. S. 

2. I have reason to know that it is he. C. S. 

3. It is supposed to be he. C. S. 

4. T can not tell who he is. C. S. 

5. There is no flesh in man's obdurate heart. C. S. 

§ 539. Rule XLII. — To sulFer is the destiny of man. C. S. 
§ 540. Rule XLHI. — a. He desired to learn the princi- 
ples of the Gospel. C. S. 

b. He has a desire to benefit his race. C. S. 

c. They are anxious to avoid even the appearance of evil. 
C. S. 

d. He told him where to do it. C. S. 

e. Nothing makes a man more suspicious than to know 
little. C. S. 

/. It is not once in ten attempts that you can find the 
case you seek in any law book ; to say nothing of those nu- 
merous points of conduct concerning which the law professes 
not to prescribe. C. S. 

1. What went ye out to see ? C. S. 

2. He declared them to be soldiers. C. S. 
Whom do they represent me to be ? C. S. 

3. I desire to learn. C. S. 

I desire him to learn. C. S. 

4. They urged him to declare war ; he was urged to de- 
clare war. C. S. 

5. To be humble is to be wise. C. S. 

6. To prevent property from being too unequally distribu- 
ted, no person should be allowed to dispose of his possessions 
to the prejudice of his lawful heirs. C. S. 

7. To say nothing of his ignorance, he is a bad man. C. S, 
§ 541. Rule XLIV. — Night bids us rest. C. S. 

1. He dared them to fight. C. S. 

2. He need not beg, for he is able to work. C. S. 

3. He has to study half of the night to get his lesson. C. S. 
§ 542. Rule XLV. — Son of heaven and earth, attend! 

C. S. 



SYNTAX OF THE VERB. 



547 



§ 543. XL VI. — With whom, if he come shortly, I will 
see you. C. S. 

1. Were he to confess his fault, he would be forgiven. 

2. Except he repent he will be punished. 

§ 544. Rule XLVIL- — 1. If my readers v/ill turn their 
thoughts back on their old friends, they will find it difficult 
to call a single man to remembrance who appeared to know 
that life was short till he was about to lose it. F. S. 

2. I have seen the king last summer. F. S. 

3. I have compassion on the multitude, because they con- 
tinue with me three days. F. S. 

4. He that was dead sat up and began to speak. F. S. 

5. John will earn his wages when his service is completed, 
F. S. 

6.1 have now been writing to my friend whom I wish to 
see. 

7. This relic was preserved this ten years. F. S. 

8. Because he should have known the reason of his con- 
demnation, he made the inquiry. F. S. 

9. I shall wait until my friend comes. C. S. 

10. I intended last year to have visited you. F. S. 

11. As soon as he comes I will invite him home. 

§ 545. Rule XL VIII.— Esteeming themselves wise, they 
become fools. F. S. 

§ 546. Rule XLIX.— He loving his work, performed it 
successfully. C. S. 

Having lost his health, he was obliged to relinquish his 
profession. C. S. 

§ 547, Rule L. — The enjoying of the goods of fortune is 
more coveted than the winning of them. C. S. 

1. The gaining of wisdom is to be coveted. C. S. 

2. Rising early is healthful. C. S. 

3. Receiving punishment, he reformed. C. S. 

4. I saw Trinity Church while it was building. C. S. 

5. The articles of this charge, considering by whom it was 
brought, were not of so high a nature as was to be expected. 
C. S. 

6. From liberty each noble science sprung, 

A Bacon brightened and a Spenser sung. F. S. 



548 SYNTACTICAL FORMS. 

7. At the close of such a folio as this, wrote for their sake, 
F. S. 

CERTAIN USES OF THE VERB. 

§ 548. 1. He IS drinking, indicates a Present action; he 
drinks^ may indicate a habit. He drinks wine at dinner, means 
that he does so habitually ; while he is drinking wine at din- 
ner confines the act to a particular occasion. 

2. DoEST is a form which occurs when the verb is used as 
a principal ; dost, when it is used as an auxiliary : '' Which 
doest great things past finding out." " He loves not plays 
as thou dostP 

3. Don't is a contraction of do not, and not of does not. 
HonH iox does not is a vulgarism. Contractions like hav^nt 
= have not; isnH ^is not, should not be encouraged. 

4. Doth and hath, in the place of does and has, are some- 
times used to express solemn and tender associations, or to 
avoid the too frequent repetition of the letter s. 

5. I WOULD RATHER and I had rather are both in use. 
The first is preferable, of which Fd rather is an abbreviation. 

6. Shall and will are sometimes improperly used the one 
for the other, as in the case of the drowning Irishman, ^' I 
will be drowned, and nobody shall help me." 

7. Might is improperly used for may : " The blind man 
said unto him. Lord, that I might receive my sight." 

8. The Third person is improperly used for the Second : 

" Thou great First Cause hast understood 

Who all my sense confined ; 
To know but this, that thou art good, 

And that myself am blind ; 
Yet gave me, in this dark estate, 

To see the good from ill ; 
And, binding nature fast in fate, 

Left free the human will," 

9. Had is, in some instances, improperly omitted : "No res- 
pite was given ; but whenever the operation ceased, the whole 
table was covered and appeared perfectly black, as if so much 
soot thrown upon it." It should be had been thrown. 

10. The form of the Third person of the verb should not 
be changed in the same sentence. It is for their sake that 



SYNTAX OF THE VERB. 549 

human law hatJi interposed in some countries of the world, 
and, by creating and ordaining a right for them, has endeav- 
ored to make good the deficiency of nature. 

11. " Its tufted flowers and leafy bands 
In one continuous curve expands, 
When herb or floweret rarely smile." 

The wrong number of the verb is here used. 
^ 12. '' They deck it with silver and with gold, that it move 
not." Here an end is proposed, and the subjunctive is the 
proper form. 

13. Men do not despise a thief if he steal to satisfy his 

soul when he is hungry. Here an individual fact is indicated, 

and not a confirmed habit. The subjunctive is therefore used. 

14. " For these mid hours, till evening rise, 

I have at will." 

RisCy not rises, is used, because a future event is indicated. 

15. '< If any of my readers has looked with so little atten- 
tion upon the world around him." Certainty is here implied. 
The indicative mode is therefore used. 

16. '« If the leg does not come off, take the turkey to your- 
self." 

" Madam," replied the man in black, " I don't care a farthing 
whether the leg or the wing comes ofT." It should be do and 
come; for the parties are disputing upon the result of the 
lady's carving, and not upon the actual state of the turkey. 

17. ''To BE sure"=" cer^(2zW?/," ^^ indeed ;^^ as, ''Will 
you venture out in this snow-storm ?" ^^ To be sure I will." 

18. Would is often used to express a wish; as, ^^ I would 
there were a sword in my hand;" " / would to God that you 
did reign ;" " Ye would none of my reproof." 

19. " For he must reign till he hath put all enemies un- 
der his feet." Till h.Q have. 

20. Had is often used for would have ; as, " Had he done 
this he had escaped" = he would have escaped. 

21. In familiar language, will represents the Present tense 
of the principal verb, and would the Past. 

" The Isle is full of noises, 
Sometimes a thousand twanging instruments 
Will hum about my ears." — Shakspeaee. 
" His listless length at noontide would he stretch." — Gray. 



550 SYNTACTICAL FORMS. 



CHAPTEEVI. 

SYNTAX OF ADVERBS. 

§ 549. Rule LI. — Adverbs modify Verbs, Adjectives, and 
other Adverbs ; as, "He s^Gted judiciously ;^^ ''He is a truly 
good man ;" " He was most kindly treated." 

An Adverb in some cases modifies a whole sentence, or a 
noun, or a preposition ; as, " Unfortunately for the lovers of 
antiquity, no remains of Grecian paintings have been pre^ 
served f^ "Blessed be God, even the Father;" ^^ Just beloiv 
the surface." 

Note 1. Adverbs are sometimes improperly used for Ad- 
jectives ; as, " The then ministry," for " the ministry of that 
time." There is some authority for this form. 

Note 2. Certain Adjectives are by deflection converted into 
adverbs; as, "Full," an adjective, is converted into "/z^Z/," 
an adverb, instead oi fully ; "it came with a peculiar bad 
grace." The use of adjectives for adverbs should not be en- 
couraged, though in some cases it can be defended. A ques- 
tion may even arise whether a word is an adverb or an ad- 
jective : "After life's fitful fever he sleeps well;^'' after life's 
fitful fever he is well. Is well the same part of speech in 
these two cases ? Most grammarians vrould say no^ some 
would say yes. 

The termination ly was originally Adjectival. At pres- 
ent it is a derivational syllable, by which we convert an Ad- 
jective into an adverb. When, however, the adjective ends 
in ly, the formation is awkward. / eat my daily bread, is 
unexceptionable. "I eat my bread dailily,''^ is exceptionable. 
One of two things must here take place : the two syllables 
lily are packed into one, or else the construction is that of an 
Adjective deflected. Thus, Godly is used as an adverb in- 
stead of Godlily. 

Note 3. Adverbs of rest in a place, namely, here, there, 
and where, are often used instead of adverbs of motion to- 



SYNTAX OF ADVERBS. 5 5 ;£ 

ward a place, namely, hither, thither, whither, when the 
latter would be more strictly accurate ; as, ''He came here," 
instead of " he came hither." In dignified language and in 
poetry this substitution is not so frequent. 

Note 4. Before adverbs of motion from a place, namely, 
hence, thence, whence, the preposition from is often used. 
But its use is pleonastic, because hence, thence, whence are 
equivalent to " from this place ;" "from that place ;" "from 
which place." 

Note 5. As to the use of the adverbs never and ever, when 
followed by so, authorities are divided, some being in favor 
of the first, as in the scriptural expression, " charm he never 
so wisely," on the ground that it is more expressive ; and 
some being in favor of substituting for it the expression 
" charm he ever so wisely." Usage, at least ancient usage, 
justifies the scriptural expression. Grammarians, at least 
many of them, prefer the other form, and to this modern 
usage inclines, though without any strong reason in its favor. 

Note 6. Here, there, and where, formerly denoting place, 
have now a more extensive application corresponding with 
their pronominal derivation, here having the force of this or 
these ; there the force of that or those ; and where the force 
of at which or in which; as, "It is not so with respect to 
volitions and actions; here the coalescence is intimate." "I 
will visit my friends ; there I shall find comfort." " Tell me 
the place ivhere it happened." The antecedent is often omit- 
ted ; as, " Tell me ivhere it happened." 

The adverb there may be used when we wish the nomina- 
tive case to stand after its verb: " There followed Him great 
multitudes.'''' 

Note 7. The adverbs yes, yea, ay, no, nay are used inde- 
pendently ; as, "Will he consent?" "Yes." "Will he 
go?" "iVo." These words are each of them equal to a 
whole sentence. Yea and nay are also used in another sense ; 
as, "A good man always profits by his endeavors; yea, when 
he is absent; nay, when dead, by his example and memory." 
Here yea is nearly equivalent to this ; so is nay. 

Note 8. Adverbs are sometimes used for substantives ; as, 
"Since z^/ie^"= since which time; "worth their while''^ = 



552 SYNTACTICAL FORMS. 

worth their time and pains ; ^^ now is the tim6"=the pres- 
ent is the time. 

Note 9. Two Negatives in English are equivalent to an 
Affirmative; as, " Nor did he not perceive them" = he did 
perceive them. "His manners are not inelegant" = are ele- 
gant. When two negatives, as in the last example, are used 
to express an affirmative, they denote the quality only in a 
moderate degree. 

In popular language two negatives are frequently used for 
a negation, according to the practice of the ancient Greeks 
and the modern French. This idiom was primitive, and was 
retained in the Anglo-Saxon ; as, " Oc se Kinning Peada ne 
rixade nane while." — Saxon Chronicle, p. 33. '• And the 
King Peada did 7iot reign none while." '' He did 7iot owe 
nothing^'''' in vulgar language, is equivalent to '' he owed 
nothing" in the style of the learned. 

Note 10. No is sometimes improperly used for not ; as, 
" Whether love be natural or no, replied my friend, gravely, 
it contributes to the happiness of every society into which it 
is introduced." No properly never qualifies a verb. 

Adverbial phrases are treated generally in the same man- 
ner as adverbs; as, "The many letters I receive do not a 
little encourage me." Here a little modifies the verb en- 
courage. N i 

THE collocation OF ADVERBS. 

§ 550. 1. They are placed before Adjectives and Partici- 
ples, and the Adverbs which they modify ; as, '' He was ex- 
ceeditigly modest ;" ^' greatly beloved ;" " not only wisely, 
but firmly." 

2. They usually follow a verb when single ; as, "He spoke 
eloquently ;^^ and if a verb is transitive, v/ith an object fol- 
lowing, the Adverb follows the object ; as, " John received 
the present gratefully ^ To this rule there are many ex- 
ceptions. 

3. When an auxiliary and a participle are used, the Ad- 
verb is usually placed between them, or it follows the parti- 
ciple ; as, "He was graciously received," or "he was re. 
ceived graciously. ^"^ 



SYNTAX OF PREPOSITIONS. 553 

4. When two auxiliaries are used, the Adverb is usually 
after the second ; as, '' We have been kindly treated." But 
it may follow the participle ; as, '* We have been treated 
kindly f and in some cases it may precede the auxiliaries ; 
as, ''And certainly you must have known." 

5. An Adverb is sometimes put emphatically at the be- 
ginning of a sentence ; as, "iVei^er was a man so used." 

6. The negative adverb not follows, and never, in mod- 
ern usage, precedes the principal verb to which it refers. We 
can not now say " she not denies it," as in Shakspeare. 

7. The words only and merely sometimes have a wrong 
location ; as, '' The first (pestilence) could be only imputed 
to the just indignation of the Gods." It should be, '-^only to 
the just indignation of the Gods." 

correspondent ADVERBS. 

§ 551, As— so ; ^^ As dieth the one, so dieth the other." ' 
As— as ; "He did this as well as he did that." 
Yea — NAY ; " Did he say yea or nayV 
So — AS ; " They went so far as to offer violence." 
Not only — but also ; " He was not only kind, but also 
courteous." 

Now — NOW ; " Like leaves on trees the race of man is found : 

Now green in youth, now withering on the ground." 

Where — there ; " Where you dwell, there will I dwell." 
When — then; " When pride cometh, then cometh shame," 

There — here ; "In glittering pomp appear : 

There bold Automedon, Patroclus ^ere." 



CHAPTER VII. 

SYNTAX OF PREPOSITIONS. 

§ 552. Rule LII. — Prepositions govern the objective case ; 
as, " They went out from us, because they were not of usP 
<' From him that is needy turn not away." 



554 SYNTACTICAL FORMS. 

Note 1. A preposition expresses the relation in which the 
conception named by a noun substantive stands to that named 
by another noun substantive, or asserted by a verb, or assumed 
by an adjective. It should, therefore, be placed as near as pos- 
sible to each of the words whose relations it expresses : " The 
ignorance of the age in mechanical arts rendered the progress 
very slow of the new invention." It should be, *' The prog- 
ress of the new invention." The accurate or appropriate 
use of prepositions can be understood only by carefully keep- 
ing in mind the exact relations which they express. It is the 
remark of Bopp, that at the bottom of every preposition, in its 
original sense, there exists a relation between two opposite 
conceptions ; thus, before implies behind, and over, under. - 

Note 2. Some writers separate the preposition from its 
noun, in order to connect different propositions with the same 
noun ; as, <' To suppose the zodiac and the planets to be effi- 
cient of and antecedent to themselves." This form, though 
inelegant, is often convenient, especially in forms of law, where 
exaptness and fullness must take plape of every other consid- 
eration. 

Note 3. Some writers separate the preposition from the 
word which it governs ; as, " Milton is an author whom I am 
much delighted withy The form of expression is in some 
cases idiomatic and expressive, though a violation of a gen- 
eral rule. 

Note 4. Prepositions are sometimes understood ; as, '' He 
gave me a book ;" " Get me some paper" = He gave to me 
some paper ; Get for me some paper. These, as explained 
elsewhere, are remains of Dative forms existing in the Anglo- 
Saxon, and may be parsed without the aid of a preposition. 
See § 450. The prepositions in, on, for, and from are un- 
derstood before nouns of time and place; as, ''This day," 
" next month," are used elliptically, " for on this day," '' in 
this month." For a somewhat different view of such sen- 
tences, see § 450. 

Note 5. "When a Verb with its Accusative case is equivalent 
to a single verb, it may take this accusative after it in the 
passive voice ; as, " This has been put an end toP 

Note 6. The word to which the preposition refers is often 



SYNTAX OF PREPOSITIONS. 555 

omitted, especially before an Imperative ; as, " He is a per- 
son not fit to converse with." The ellipsis may be supplied 
by whom it is introduced into the sentence ; He is a person 
whom it is not fit to converse with. In those instances in. 
which the preposition is treated as an adverb, there is often 
a noun understood; as, " The heavens above;'''' " The earth 
beneath^ 

Note 7. Prepositions seem sometimes to be put absolutely 
after the perfect participle ; as, " The man spoken ^o;" " The 
subject talked o/." 

Note 8. Prepositions are in some cases used for nouns ; 
as, "The ins are fewer than the outs^ 

Note 9. Up, on, over, by, &c., are often subjoined to verbs, 
•so that the verb and preposition can be received as a com- 
pound word ; as, '< To get up.''^ Some of these compounds 
are idiomatic ; as, '^ To get w/?"=to rise ; to go on=io pro- 
ceed. 

Note 10. Grammarians are not agreed as to the syntax of 
near and nigh^ like and unlike, save and except, but and 
than, and some others. In the phrases " near him," " nigh 
him," some regard near and nigh as performing the office 
of prepositions, like the Latin words propior proximus, while 
others consider the preposition to as understood. In the 
phrases '' except them''' and " save them,'''' some consider 
except and save as prepositions, while others regard them as 
verbs in the Imperative. They were originally verbal. The 
■words saving, barring, during, touching, concurring, re- 
lating to, originally participles, perform the functions of 
prepositions. Thus we see that words which were adjec- 
tives, verbs, or participles, become prepositional in their 
character. 

Note 11. The preposition to is made use of before nouns 
of place, when they follow verbs and participles of motion ; 
,as, " I went to London." But the preposition at is generally 
used after the verb to be; as, ''I have been at London." The 
preposition in is set before the names of countries, cities, and 
large towns; as, " He lives in France." In the Devonshire 
dialect, " he lives to Exmouth," is used instead of '* at Ex- 
mouth." 



556 SYNTACTICAL FORMS. 

Note 12. Two prepositions in some cases come together; 
as, " From under the ship ;" 

" From before the luster of her face, 
White break the clouds away." 

Note 13. Prepositions are elliptically construed with cer- 
tain Adjectives ; as, ^^In vain;^^ ^' in secret;'^ and also with 
certain adverbs ; as, ^^At once^ These are called adverbial 
phrases. 

Note 14. It is a general rule that Greek, Latin, and French 
derivatives are followed by a preposition corresponding with 
that which is in composition; as, "To sympathize with;'''' 
*' to expel fromf '-^ to adapt ^o." To this rule there are 
many exceptions; as, "We submit to;'''' "we prefer to;'''' 
" aversion j^o," not aversion from. 

Note 15. The following examples of the improper use of 
prepositions, with corrections, are from Murray's Grammar, 
p. 189: 

"He was resolved of going to the Persian Court;" ^'' on 
going," &c. 

" He found the greatest difficulty of writing ;" " in writ- 
ing," &c. 

"The English were a very different people then to what 
they are now;" '-''from what," &c. 

" It is more than they thought for ;" " thought ofP 

" T?he history of Peter is agreeable with the sacred texts ;" 
" agreeable ^0," &c. 

" He was made much on at Argos ;" " much o/," &c. 

" Neither of them shall make me swerve out of the path ;" 
''^ from the path." 

"In compliance to (with) your request." "The rain has 
been falling of a long time ;" falling a long time. 

Note 16. Prepositions sometimes form compound verbs, by 
being joined with Intransitive verbs, and also with verbs in 
the passive voice; as, " She smiled at him;" "a bitter perse- 
cution was carried on." 

Note 17. In some cases the preposition is advantageously 
repeated ; as, " In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in 
perils of robbers, in perils of mine own countrymen, in perils 



SYNTAX OF CONJUNCTIONS. 557 

by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils on the sea, in 
perils among false brethren, in weariness and painfulness, in 
watchings often, m hunger and thirst, in cold and naked- 



THE COLLOCATION OF PREPOSITIONS. 

§ 553. The General rule is, that the preposition shall pre- 
cede the Substantive which it governs. To this rule there 
are exceptions. For though, in construction, it precedes the 
noun or pronoun dependent on it, yet in its position in the 
sentence it may be far separated from it, as in note 3, or 
even follow it. See § 561, 12. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

SYNTAX OF CONJUNCTIONS. 

§ 554. EuLE LIIL— Conjunctions connect Propositions, 
sentences, and single words ; as, *' He is wise and she is vir- 
tuous ;" " Honor your parents if you wish for happiness in 
life ;" " William and Mary are a happy pair." 

Note 1. The current statement is here given from a regard 
to the convenience of the rule rather than from a regard to its 
philological accuracy. A careful analysis of the power of the 
Conjunction goes far toward proving that it is a part of speech 
serving to show the particular mode in which one sentence is 
connected with another sentence, while single words are con- 
nected by prepositions, and not by conjunctions. In support 
of this view of the office of conjunctions, which is entertained 
by Harris and Stoddart, Latham asserts that there are al- 
ways two propositions where there is one Conjunction, and 
that a part of speech that merely combines two words is a Prep- 
osition. ''It is very important to remember," he adds, ''that 
many double Propositions may be expressed so compendiously 
as to look like one. When this takes place, and any ques- 
tion arises as to the construction, they must be exhibited in 
their fully expanded form, i. e., the second Subject, the sec- 



558 SYNTACTICAL FORMS. 

ond Predicate, and the second Copula must be supplied. 
This can always be done from the first proposition : He likes 
you better than me^==lie likes you better tlioM lie likes me. 
The compendious expression of the second proposition is the 
First point of note in the syntax of conjunctions. 

" § ^K)b. The Second point in the syntax of conjunctions is 
their great convertibility. Most conjunctions have been de- 
veloped out of some other parts of speech. The conjunction 
than is derived from the Accusative singular of the Demon- 
strative Pronoun. The conjunction that is derived from a 
Demonstrative Pronoun. The conjunction therefore is a 
Demonstrative Pronoun + a Preposition. The conjunction 
because is a Substantive, governed by a Preposition. 

'' One and the same word, in one and the same sentence, 
may be a Conjunction or Preposition, as the case may be : 
All fl€d but John. If this mean all fled except John, the 
word but is a preposition, the word John is an Accusative 
Case, and the proposition is single. If, instead of John, we 
had a Personal Pronoun, we should say all fled but him. All 
fled but John. If this mean all fled, but John did not fly, 
the word but is a conjunction, the word John is a Nomina- 
tive Case, and the propositions are two in number. If, in- 
stead of John, we had a personal pronoun, we should say all 
fled but he. From the fact of the great convertibility of 
conjunctions, it is often necessary to determine whether a 
word be a conjunction or not. If it be a conjunction, it can 
not govern a case. If it govern a case, it is no conjunc- 
tion, but a Preposition. A conjunction can not govern a 
case for the following reason : the word that follows it must 
be the subject of the second proposition, and, as such, a Nom- 
inative case. 

<' § 65Q. The Third point to determine in the syntax of 
conjunctions is the certainty or uncertainty in the mind of 
the speaker as to the facts expressed by the propositions which 
they serve to connect. 

*' 1. Each proposition may contain a certain definite abso- 
lute fact : The day is clear, because the sun shines. Here 
there is neither doubt nor contingency of either the day be- 
ing clear or the sun shining. 



SYNTAX OF CONJUNCTIONS. 559 

<*2. Of two propositions, one may be the condition of the 
other : The day will be clear if the sun shine. Here, al- 
though it is certain that if the sun shine the day will be clear, 
there is no certainty of the sun shining. Of the two propo- 
sitions, one only embodies a certain fact, and that is certain 
only conditionally. Now an action wherein there enters any 
notion of uncertainty or indefinitude, and is at the same time 
connected with another action, is expressed, not by the Indica- 
tive Mode, but by the Subjunctive. If the sun shine (not 
shines^ the day will be clear. 

" Simple uncertainty will not constitute a subjunctive Con- 
struction : / aw, perhaps^ in the wrong. Neither will sim- 
ple Connection : / am wrongs because you are right. But 
the two combined constitute the construction in question : 
if I be wrong, you are right. 

"Now a Conjunction that connects two Certain propositions 
may be said to govern an Indicative Mode ; and a Conjunc- 
tion that connects an Uncertain proposition with a certain one 
may be said to govern a Subjunctive Mode." 

In opposition to the view presented in the first part of the 
above extract from Latham, Crombie asserts that conjunc- 
tions couple words as well as sentences; as, ''A man of wis- 
dom and virtue is a perfect character." Here it is not im- 
plied that a man of wisdom is a perfect character, but a 
man of wisdom combined with virtue is a perfect character. 
"John and Mary are a handsome couple." Is John a couple? 
is Mary a couple ? In reply, it is said that John is hand- 
some and Mary is handsome. Here we have essentially two 
propositions connected together by and. 

§ 557. Conditional Conjunctions are of two sorts : 

1. Those which express a condition as an actual fact, and 
one admitted by the speaker. 

2. Those w^hich express a condition as a possible fact, and 
one which the speaker does not admit, or admits only in a 
qualified manner. 

Since the children are so badly brought up, they are not 
to be trusted. This is an instance of the first Construction. 
The speaker admits, as an absolute fact, the bad bringing 
up of the children. If the children be so badly brought 



560 SYNTACTICAL FORMS. 

up, they are not to be trusted. This is an instance of the 
second Construction. The speaker admits, as a possible (per- 
haps, as a probable) fact, the bad bringing up of the chil- 
dren, but he does not adopt it as an indubitable one. 

§ 558. Now if every conjunction had a fixed invariable 
meaning, there vv^ould be no difficulty in determining whether 
a condition was absolute, and beyond a doubt ; or possible, and 
liable to a doubt. But such is not the case. Although may 
precede a proposition which is admitted as well as one that is 
doubted, a. Although the children are, &c. b. Although 
the children be. If, too, may precede propositions wherein 
there is no doubt whatever implied ; in other words, it may 
be used as well as since. What applies to if applies to other 
Conjunctions as well. 

§ 559. As a point of practice, the following method of de- 
termining the amount of doubt expressed in a conditional 
proposition is useful. Insert immediately after the conjunc- 
tion one of the two following phrases : 1. As is the case. 2. 
As may or may not be the case. By ascertaining which of 
these two supplements expresses the meaning of the speaker, 
we ascertain the Mode of the verb which follows. When the 
first formula is the one required, there is no element of doubt, 
and the verb should be in the Indicative Mode. If {as is the 
case) he is gone, I must follow him. When the second 
formula is the one required, there is an element of doubt, and 
the verb should be in the Subjunctive Mode. If (as may or 
may not be the case) he be gone, I must follow him. See 
Rule on the subjunctive. 

Note 2. The use of the word that in expressions like I eat, 
that I may live, &c., is a modification of the subjunctive con- 
struction that is conveniently called potential. It denotes 
that one act is done for the sake of supplying the power or 
opportunity for the performance of another. In English, the 
word that, so used, can not be said to govern a mode, though 
generally followed by either 77iay or might. It should rather 
be said to require a certain combination to follow it. The 
most important point of the construction in question is the 
so-called Succession of tenses. 

Whenever the Conjunction that expresses intention, and 



SYNTAX OF CONJUNCTIONS. ^Ql 

consequently connects two verbs, the second of which takes 
place after the first, the verbs in question must be in the same 
tense. / do this that I may gain by it. / did this that I 
might gain by it. A little consideration will show that this 
rule is absolute. For a man to be doing one action (in Pres- 
ent time), in order that some other action may follow it (in 
Past time), is to reverse the order of cause and effect. To 
do any thing in A.D. 1850, that something may result from 
it in 1849, is a contradiction ; and so it is to say, I do this 
that I might gain by it. 

The reasons against the converse construction are nearly, 
if not equally, cogent. To have done any thing at any pre- 
vious time, in order that a present effect may follow, is, ipso 
facto, to convert a past act into a present one. To say / 
did this, that I may gain by it, is to make, by the very effect 
of the expression, either may equivalent to might, or did 
equivalent to have done. 

Note 3. Disjunctives (or, nor\ are of two sorts, real and 
nominal. A king or queen always rules in England. Here 
the Disjunction is real, king and queen being different names 
for different objects. In all real Disjunctions, the inference 
is, that if one out of two (or more) individuals (or classes) 
do not perform a certain action, the other does. 

A Sovereign or Supreme governor always rules in En- 
gland. Here the Disjunction is nominal, sovereign and 
supreme governor being different names for the same object. 
In all nominal Disjunctives, the inference is, that if an agent 
(or agents) do not perform a certain action under one name, 
he does (or they do) it under another. 

Both Nominal and Real Disjunctives agree in this : what- 
ever be the number of nouns which they connect, the con- 
struction of the verb is the same as if there were but one. 
Henry, or John, or Thomas walks ; the sun or solar luminary 
shines. The Disjunctive isolates the subject, however much 
it may be placed in juxtaposition with other nouns. 

Note 4. In poetry, nor and or are frequently substituted 
for neither and either ; thus : 

*• Nor Simois, 
Nor rapid Xanthus' celebrated flood." — Addison. 

Nn 



562 ' SYNTACTICAL FORMS. 

" Or by the lazy Scheldt or wandering Po." — Goldsmith. 

Note 5. If is sometimes employed for whether; as, ^' He 
doubts if two and two make four.'' 

Note 6. The conjunction is often omitted; as, ^'Were 
there no difference, there would be no choice," i. e., " if there 
were." 

Note 7. Some conjunctions have their corresponding con- 
junctions, so that in the subsequent member of the sentence 
the latter answers to the former ; as, 

1. Though — yet, nevertheless ; as, " Though deep, yet 
clear ; though gentle, yet not dull." 

2. Whether — or; as, '• Whether he will go or not, I can 
not tell." 

3. Either — or; as, "I will either send it or bring it my- 
self." 

4. Neither— Nor ; as, <• Neither thou nor I am able to 
compass it." 

5. As — AS ; expressing a comparison ; as, <' He is as good 
as she." 

In like manner, certain conjunctions correspond with cer- 
tain x^Ldverbs : 

1. As — so ; expressing a comparison ; as, ^' As he excels 
in virtue, so he rises in estimation ;" " As the stars, so shall 
thy seed be." 

2. So — AS ; ''To see Thy glory so as I have seen Thee 
in the sanctuary ;" " Pompey was not so great a man as 
Csesar." 

3. So — that ; expressing a consequence ; as, "He was so 
fatigued that he could scarcely move." 

4. Rather — than; as, "He would consent rather than 
suffer." 

5. Not only — but also ; as, " He was not only prudent, 
but he was also industrious." 

Note 8. In like manner, certain conjunctions correspond 
with certain Adjectives ; as, 

1. Other — than ; " Were it any other than he, I would 
not submit ;" " He is greater than I." 

2. Same — as ; " Your paper is of the same quality as 
mine." 



SYNTAX OF CONJUNCTIONS. 5^3 

3. Such — as ; «' I will give you such pens as I have." 

4. Such— THAT ; <* His diligence was such that his friends 
were oanfident of success." 

Note 9. Neither, nor, and either, or, should be placed 
next the words to which they refer ; as, ^'Neither he nor his 
friend was present ;" " It neither improves the understanding 
nor delights the heart." 

Note 10. The pronominal adjective all sometimes beauti- 
fully supplies the place of the copulative conjunction ; as, 

" All heart they live, all head, all eye, aU ear, 
AU intellect, all sense." — Paradise Lost. 

INTERJECTIONS. 

§ 560. Rule LIV. — -Interjections are joined with the ob- 
jective case of the pronoun of the first person, and with the 
nominative of the pronoun of the second ; as, ^' Ah me !" 
'•'• Oh thou!" Oh or O, in some cases, seems to supply the 
place of a subject and verb ; as, 

" ! that the rose-bud which graces yon Island 
Were wreathed in a garland around him to twine.'* 

exercises in the syntax of adverbs. 

§ 561. Rule LI.— Despair naturally produces indolence.. 
C. S. 

1. Use a little wine for thine often infirmities. F. S. 

2. In a word, his speech was all excellent good in itself. 
F. S. 

3. Come here, if you will not go there. C. S. 

Come hither, come hither, by night and by day 
We linger in pleasures that never are gone. C. S. 

4. From thence he went to Paris. C. S. 
He went thence to Rome. C. S 

5. The Lord is King, be the people never so impotent. 
C. S. 

If the opportunities of some persons were ever so favorable, 
they are too idle to improve them. C. S. 

6. The Scriptures are a revelation from God; here we find 
the truths we need to know. C. S. . 

7. Will he confess the truth ? No. C. S. 



564 SYNTACTICAL FORMS. 

8. Since when ; until now. C. S. 

9. I can not by no means admit it to be true. F. S. 

10. If that be all, there is no need of paying for that, since 
I am resolved to have that pleasure, whether I am there or 
no. F. S. 

EXERCISES IN THE SYNTAX OF PREPOSITIONS. 

§ 562. Rule LII. — Between you and I, there is much 
mischief in it. F. S. 

1. The success was very great of that enterprise. F. S. 

2. He was related to, and governed by, the same person. 
F. S. 

3. Of the lighter but very important accomplishments, 
which fill so large a place in the patriotic character, great 
eloquence and a strong masculine style in writing, he had but 
little. C. S. 

4. Will you get me some paper ? C. S. 

5. This has been put an end to. C. S. 

6. This pen is not fit to write with. C. S. 

7. The doctrine spoken against. C. S. 

8. There are ultras on both sides. C. S. Ultra is a 
Latin preposition. 

9. To give over ; to lay by ; to lie by. C. S. 

10. Near the lake where drooped the willow. C. S. 

11. In his journey he went to New York. C. S. 

12. With noise like the sound of distant thunder, 

Roaring, they rushed from the black clouds under. C. S. 

13. In vain ; in earnest ; in secret. C. S. 

14. To comply with ; to adapt to. C. S. ..^ ^ 

15. This was more than they thought for. (D. S) '*',• v)» 

16. The Christian religion was scoffed at. C. S. 

17. In their dress, their table, their houses, their furniture, 
the favorites of fortune united every refinement of conven- 
ience, of elegance, and of splendor. C. S. 

exercises in the syntax of CONJUNCTIONS. 

§ 563. Rule LIII. — I shall visit him, because he desires 
it. C. S. 

1. He likes you better than me. C. S. 



SYNTAX OF SIMPLE SENTENCES. ^Q^ 

All fled but John. C. S. 

The day is clear because the sun shines ; the day will be 
clear if the sun shine. C. S. 

2. I eat that I may live. C. S. 

3. A king or queen always rules in England. C. S. 

4. Nor pain, nor grief, nor anxious fear 
Invade thy bounds. C. S. 

Oh ! struggling with the darkness of the night, 

And visited all night with troops of stars. 

Or when they climb the sky, or when they sink. C. S. 

5. I can not say if he was here. C. S. 

6. This elegant rose, had I shaken it less, 

Might have bloomed with its owner a while. C. S. 

7. Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him. C. S. 

8. And, behold, it was no other than he. C. S. 

9. Neither flattery nor threats could prevail. C. S. 

10. Tell him all terms, all commerce I decline ; 
Nor share his counsel, nor his battle join. C. S. 



CHAPTER IX. 

SYNTAX OF SIMPLE SENTENCES. 

§ 564. A Sentence is the expression of a thought in words. 
A Declarative Sentence is substantially the same as a 
proposition. 

THE predicative COMBINATION. 

^565. A Predicative Combination, as, '' Washington 
wrote^^'' constitutes a simple sentence in which there is a sub- 
ject connected with a predicate. "Whatever has already been 
said concerning Substantives or words standing in the place 
of substantives, when used in the nominative case, relates to 
the predicative combination. Whatever, also, has been said 
concerning Verbs as agreeing with these subjects in express- 
ing the relations of Person, Time, and Mode, relates to the 



^ee SYNTACTICAL FORMS. 

predicative combination. Whatever, also, has been said con- 
cerning Adjectives, Participles, and Substantives, when used 
as Predicates, relates to the predicative combination. 

THE ATTRIBUTIVE COMBINATION. 

§566, Any notion added to a substantive or a word stand- 
ing as a substantive, for the purpose of describing it more ex- 
actly, but not asserted of it, is said to be joined to it. At- 
tributively. Thus, ^' the patriotic Washington wrote," or, 
" Washington the patriot wrote," contains an attributive 
combination. Whatever has already been said concerning 
Adjectives, Pronouns, and Substantives, when they limit the 
meaning of other substantives, relates to the attributive com- 
bination ; as, '' The wise king ;" " the rising sun ;" '' that 
man;" '' Mirabeau the orator;''"' ''^John's book;" "the man 
of wisdom'''' ^=t\iQ ivise man ; a walk in the morning- = ^'' a 
morning's walk?'' A Predicative combination can be changed 
into an attributive one by changing the predicate to an at- 
tributive ; as, " Flowers bloom," " blooming flowersP 

the OBJECTIVE COMBINATION. 

§ 567. The general idea of the Objective Combination is 
illustrated by an accusative case after a verb. But every 
notion referred to a verb or adjective^ in whatever form it is 
expressed, is to be considered as an objective factor^ and as 
belonging to the objective combination ; as, '' He loves his 
book f ''he will come to-morrow f ''he works actively f'' 
" generous to his friends;'''' " desirous to learn;'''' " he travels 
with haste ;^^ "he looks pale;'''' " he is guilty of a murder.'''' 
Much that has already been said concerning the government 
of substantives and words standing for substantives, whether 
by verbs or propositions, relates to the objective combination, 
though it does not cover the whole ground. 

§ 568. Every Sentence, however long, is composed of only 
three kinds of combinations, the Predicative, the Attributive, 
and the Objective ; as, " Henry wrote." [Add an object to 
the predicative combination.] " Henry wrote a letter.'''' [Add 
a notion attributively to both substantives.] " The anxious 
Henry wrote a long letter." [Add notions objectively to both 



SYNTAX OF COMPOUND SENTENCES. 5(J7 

adjectives.] " Henry, anxious to hear from hirn^ wrote a 
very long letter." [Add a notion objectively to the verb.] 
*< Henry, anxious to hear from him immediately^ wrote a very 
long letter." [Add another notion to the verb objectively^ and 
another to the substantive attributively. '\ " His cousin Henry, 
anxious to hear from him, wrote a very long letter to him^ 

INTERROGATIVE SENTENCES. 

§ 569. Interrogative Sentences are of two kinds, Direct 
and Indirect. 

A Direct Interrogative Sentence is an inverted con- 
struction, in which the verb comes before the subject, and 
requires for an answer a direct Affirmation or Denial ; as, 
<' Have you seen Henry ?" " Yes^ <' Shall you go to New 
York?" <'iVo." 

An Indirect Interrogative Sentence is always intro- 
duced by an interrogative word, as the pronoun who, the ad- 
jective which, the adverb when, and requires a specific an- 
swer ; as, " Who defeated Burgoyne ?" '' General Gates." 
"In which war ?" "In the Revolutionary war." ''•Where 
did he defeat him ?" " At Stillwater." See § 316. 

§ 570. An Imperative Sentence is an inverted construc- 
tion, in which the Subject follows the Verb ; as, " Speak ye." 

§ 571. An Exclamatory Sentence expresses some pas- 
sion ; as, 

" ! that this too, too solid flesh would melt, 
Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew !" 



CHAPTER X. 

SYNTAX OF COMPOUND SENTENCES. 

§ 572. Two simple sentences are connected either by way 
of Co-ordination, or by way of Subordination. When two 
sentences are so related to each other as to form one thought, 



568 SYNTACTICAL FORMS. 

each, however, being in a measure independent of the otlier, 
they are connected by way of Co-ordination; as, "He was 
ill, and called for a physician ;" " Socrates was wise, Plato 
also was wise." The two sentences taken together consti- 
tute a co-ordinate compound sentence. 

When two sentences are so related to each other that the 
one defines and explains the other, and the one is dependent 
on the other, they are connected in the way of Subordination ; 
as, " He reported that the king died ;" '' since the spring has 
come, the roses bloom." " He reported" is the principal sen- 
tence ; ''that the king died" is the subordinate sentence, which 
defines the other, and the two taken together constitute a com- 
pound sentence. 

§ 573. 1. Copulate Co-ordinate Sentences are those which 
are connected by the copulative Conjunction or their equiva- 
lents ; as, " The moon and the stars shine" =the moon shines 
aiid the stars shine ; " He will be there as well as you ;" 
" John will arrive, also James ;" " She was not only beauti- 
ful, hut modest." 

§ 574. II. An Adversative Co-ordinate Sentence is one 
in which the clauses that are contrasted with each other are 
united to form one thought. The opposition or contrast is 
of such a nature that the thought in the co-ordinate clause 
either merely limits or restrains the thought of the preced- 
ing clause, or wholly denies it; as, "He is indeed poor, hut 
brave ;" " He is not guilty, hut innocent ;" " I did indeed wel- 
come him to my house, hut I found that he was a rascal." 
" Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him." 

§ 575. III. A Disjunctive Co-ordinate Sentence is one 
in which the two clauses composing the entire sentence are 
united in one whole, but one of which excludes the other ; 
as, " The father or the son died ;" " Either James or John 
will be there ;" " He was neither pious nor prudent ;" " Be 
industrious, otherwise you will come to want;" "Hasten to 
reform, else you will be ruined ;" " Thomas is wiser than 
John ;" " John is as learned as James." 

§ 576. IV. Causal Co-ordinate Sentences. — Two sen- 
tences may be so arranged that the latter may denote a cause 
or reason on the one hand, or an effect or inference on the 



SYNTAX OF COMPOUND SENTENCES. 559 

other; as, ''The mercury has sunk, because (cause) the 
weather is cold ;" '' The weather is cold, for (reason) the 
mercury has sunk ;" " The land is fertile, therefore (effect) 
the crops are good ;" " The crops are good, therefore (infer- 
ence) the land is fertile ;" " Wine makes him ill, on that 
account he drinks water ;" " He intends to teach, therefore 
he learns French." 

SUBORDINATE SENTENCES. 

§ 577. Subordinate Sentences stand in the place of a Sub- 
stantive, or of an Adjective, or of an Adverb, and therefore must 
be regarded as Substantives, or Adjectives, or Adverbs, ex- 
panded into a sentence. Accordingly, there are three classes 
of Subordinate sentences, viz.. Substantive sentences, Adject- 
ive sentences, and Adverbial sentences. 

SUBSTANTIVE SENTENCES. 

§ 578. I. Substantive Sentences are Substantives or In- 
finitives expanded into a sentence, and, like substantives, con- 
stitute the Subject, the Attribute, or the Object of a sentence. 
" He reported ^Ae death of the king^^^ when expanded="He 
reported that the king had diedP 

1. A Substantive Sentence can be used as the subject of a 
proposition ; as, " That the crops will be large^ is evident." 

2. A Substantive Sentence can be used as the predicate of 
a proposition ; as, '' His complaint was, that you deceived 
himP 

3. A Substantive Sentence can be used as the object of a 
verb ; as, " He believes that you injured him.'''' 

4. A Substantive Sentence can stand in apposition to a 
substantive in the principal sentence, whether in the nomin- 
ative or objective case; as, ^' It is strange that you should 
think soy Here the sentence that you think so is in apposi- 
tion to zY, i. e., this thing. 

5. The word that, used in these four instances, also serves 
to connect subordinate sentences which express a purpose; 
as, '' I have come that I may see it with my own eyes f and 
also sentences that express an effect or consequence; as, " The 
noise was such that I could not hear a word.'''' 



570 SYNTACTICAL FORMS. 



ADJECTIVE SENTENCES. 



§ 579. II. Adjective Sentences are Adjectives or Partici- 
ples expanded into a sentence, and, like Adjectives, they ex- 
press a more exact definition of a Substantive or substan- 
tive Pronoun. They are usually introduced by relative pro- 
nouns ; as, <' A person who is ignorant of his own language 
= [a person ignorant of his own language] ought not to at- 
tempt to teach it;" " The trees which I planted = [th.Q trees 
planted by me] are flourishing." The Adjective ignorant 
may be regarded as expanded into who is ignorant. 

adverbial sentences. 

§ 580. III. Adverbial Sentences are Adverbs, Participles, 
or Substantives used adverbially, expanded into sentences, and, 
like adverbs, denote an adverbial object, i. e., such an object 
as does not complete the idea of the predicate, but merely de- 
fines it. Hence they express a more full explanation of the 
Place, Tirae, Reason, Manner. 

1. Relation of Place; as, ^' He is not there, where you ex- 
pected to meet him;'^^ '' Whithersoever I go, I will remember 
you ;" ''I know not whence he came}^ 

2. Relation of Time ; as, ^^When any body asked him, he 
would not give an answer;" ^'WJiile he was traveling, he 
received the intelligence." 

3. Relation of Cause or Reason; as, " He is not liked, be- 
cause he is presumptuous ;^'' " The Gentleman being intro- 
duced to me, I addressed him in English ;" '' He stays at 
home, as he expects a visit.^^ 

4. Conditional adverbial sentences are such as express a 
condition, and are introduced by the hypothetical conjunction 
if, or some equivalent ; as, ^' I shall continue the work if I 
can." ^^ Prove that to me, and I shall be satisfied." Here 
improve that to me''' is equivalent to, *^ if you will prove that 
to me.'''' The conditional clause is sometimes expressed by a 
Question ; as, << Is any man pinched with want, charity shall 
relieve him." 

As the conditioning clause usually precedes the conditioned, 
the former (the subordinate clause) is called the Protasis, 



SYNTAX OF COMPOUND SENTENCES. 57^ 

Condition, and the latter (the principal clause) is called the 
Apodosis, Conclusion. ''If he visit Washington (Protasis) he 
will see the president" (Apodosis). 

4. Relation of Manner ; as, " He did thaty^^s^ as it ought 
to be done'''' =just right. 

EXERCISES IN SENTENCES. 

Name the following sentences, and point out the distinctive 
characteristics. As an additional exercise, let the pupil ex- 
hibit to the teacher Specimens of all the various kinds of sen- 
tences, either original or selected. 

§ 581. How deeply must unbelief be rooted in our hearts, 
when we are surprised to find our prayers answered ! 

The imagination and the reason have each their truths, as 
well as the reason. 

They remained where they have been residing the last fi\Q 
years. 

A weak mind sinks under prosperity as well as under ad- 
versity. A strong and deep mind has two highest tides : 
when the moon is at the full, and when there is no moon. 

What is the use of it ? is the first question asked in En- 
gland by almost every body about almost every thing. 

Political economists tell us that self-love is the bond of 
society. 

Many a man's vices have been nothing worse than good 
qualities run wild. 

Who wants to see a masquerade ? might be written under 
a looking-glass. 

Religion presents few difficulties to the humble, many to 
the proud, insuperable ones to the vain. 

This is the great blessing of marriage, that it delivers us 
from the tyranny of Meiim and Tuum. 

Said Cobbett, " Never think of mending what you write : 
let it go ; no patching. As your pen moves, bear constantly 
in mind that it is making strokes that are to remain forever." 

We may keep the Devil without the swine, but not the 
swine without the devil. 

Let him who desires to see others happy make haste to 
give while his gift can be enjoyed. 



572 SYNTACTICAL FORMS. 

Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be un- 
punished. 

Avarice or cruelty was discernible in all their actions. 

He committed the crime while you were absent. 

If he were your friend, he would give you better advice. 

Oh ! for a muse of fire that would ascend 
The highest heaven of invention ! 

Either he has been imprudent or his associates vindictive. 

The proudest word in English, to judge of the way of its 
carrying itself, is I. It is the least of monosyllables, if it be 
indeed a syllable ; yet who in good society ever saw a little one ? 

It has rained, for the ground is wet. 

"With some of them God was not well pleased, for they 
were overthrown in the wilderness. 

He sought for happiness as an end, and therefore he was 
unsuccessful. 

It is a mistake, however, to conclude that men are insensi- 
ble to those beauties which they are not continually talking 
about and analyzing, that the love of nature is a new feel- 
ing because a taste for the picturesque is of modern date. 

GRAMMATICAL EQUIVALENTS. 

§ 582. A Grammatical Form is equivalent to another 
grammatical form when the first means the same, or nearly 
the same, as the second. But though they may agree in 
their Syntactical value, they may differ so much in their 
Logical, Rhetorical, or Poetical value as to furnish to the 
writer a ground of decided preference of one above the other. 
What is called a command of language is little else than a 
practical acquaintance with grammatical equivalents. The 
tasteful English linguist is he who habitually uses the better 
expression of two equivalents upon perceived grounds of pref- 
erence. He understands both the points of agreement and the 
points of difference between two expressions. See § 439. 

examples of grammatical equivalents. 

§ 583. 1. He reported the death of the king = He reported 
that the king was dead. Here a substantive is expanded 
into a sentence. 



SYNTAX OF COMPOUND SENTENCES. 573 

2. The scholars who were educated by him = The scholars 
educated by him. Here a proposition is abridged into an ad- 
jective. 

3. I saw him before the time when you came=I saw him 
before you came. Here a preposition, an article, a noun, and 
an adverb, are abridged into an adverb. 

4. When the troops had come over the river, they marched 
directly into the fort = Having come over the river, the troops 
marched directly into the fort. Here a sentence is abridged 
into a participle. 

5. He told the troops that they must not fire upon the 
enemy = He told the troops not to fire upon the enemy. 
Here a sentence is abridged into an infinitive. 

6. He is a man of learning = He is a learned man = He is 
not unlearned. 

7. Riding on horseback is healthful := To ride on horseback 
is healthful = Horseback riding is healthful. 

8. When the troops approached, they discharged their 
muskets = The troops approached and discharged their mus- 
kets. Here the subordinate construction is changed to the 
co-ordinate. 

9. He gave up the undertaking = He relinquished the un- 
dertaking. By means of synonymous words, equivalents can 
be obtained whether those words are nouns, verbs, or adjec- 
tives. The double origin of our language (Gothic and Ro- 
manic) affords an extensive ground of choice in the use of 
words. ) 

10. Having conquered his enemies, he applied himself to 
the arts of peace = After conquering his enemies, he applied 
himself to the arts of peace. These are specimens. 

EXERCISES. 

§ 584. Find equivalents for the following : 

1. He examined me closer than my judge had done = 

2. Were I to express my opinion = 

3. He declared that it was he = 

4. A gentleman who was coming here yesterday = 

5. He arrived in the city and waited on the mayor = 

§ 584. Equivalents are very numerous in the English Ian- 



674 



SYNTACTICAL FORMS. 



guage. The learner will find it greatly for his advantage to 
write out phrases and sentences from books, and then write 
opposite to themj as above, equivalent expressions. Indeed, 
passages of considerable length might thus be profitably trans- 
lated from one set of expressions to another, as in the follow- 
ing, from Isaac Taylor on Home Education : 

'*It was a brilliant night. 
Beneath a dark and cloudless 
vault, the snowy mantle of the 



mountain shone resplendent 
with the beams of a full Ital- 
ian moon. The guides lay 
buried in the deepest sleep. 
Thus, in the midnight hour, 
at the height of ten thousand 
feet, I stood alone, my rest- 
ing-place a pinnacle of rock 
that towered darkly above the 
frozen wilderness from which 
it isolated rose. Below me 
the yawning cliffs and up- 
roarious desolation of the gla- 
cier presented an appalling 
picture of dangers scarcely 
gone by. Around and above 
was a sea of fair, treacherous 
snow, whose hidden perils yet 
lay before us." 



"The night was resplen- 
dent. The mountain, clad 
in spotless white, glistened 
against the deep blue of the 
sky in the light of the moon, 
then at the full, and such as 
it is seen in Italy. The 
guides were in the profound- 
est slumber ; and I stood soli- 
tary, at an elevation of ten 
thousand feet, keeping the 
midnight watch, on a rocky 
turret, rearing itself gloomily 
out of the icy desert around. 
Beneath my feet lay the gap- 
ing chasms and wild solitudes 
of the glacier, reminding me of 
the frightful perils we had just 
escaped. On all sides, and 
about the upper path we had 
yet to tread, was outspread a 
fallacious expanse of snow." 



§ 585. Translate the following Old English, written in the 
fourteenth century, into Modern English : 

" Then thus in getting riches ye musten flee idleness ; and 
afterward ye shulen usen the riches which ye hav geten by 
your wit and by your travail in such manner that men hold 
you not too scarce, ne too sparing, ne fool-large, that is to 
say, over large spender ; for right as men blamen an averi- 
tious man on account of his scarcity, in the same wise he is to 
blame that spendeth over largely ; ' and therefore,' saith Ca- 
ton, * use' (he saith) ' the riches that thou hast ygeten in such 
manner that men hav no matter ne cause to call thee nother 



EXERCISES IN FALSE SYNTAX. 575 

wretch ; for it is a great shame to a man to hav a poor heart 
and a rich pm^se.' He saith, also, ' The goods that thou hast 
ygeten, use them by measure, that is to sayen, spend meas- 
ureably ; for they that solely wasten and despenden the goods 
that they hav, when they hav no more proper of 'eir own, 
that they shapen 'em to take the goods of another man.' " — 
Chaucer. 

§ 086. Translate the following poetry, written in the 
fifteenth century, into modern prose : 

" In going to my naked bed, as one that would have slept, 
I heard a wife sing to her child that long before had wept ; 
She sighed sore, and sang full sweet to bring the babe to rest 
That would not cease, but cried still in sucking at her breast. 
She was full weary of her watch, and grieved with her child ; 
She rocked it and rated it until on her it smiled ; 
Then did she say, * Now have I found the present true to prove, 
The falling out of faithful friends renewing is of love.' " 

R. Edwards. 

PROMISCUOUS EXERCISES IN FALSE SYNTAX. 

§ 587. The Learner is expected to make the corrections and 

give the Rules. 

1. The milk-maid singeth blithe, 

And the shepherd whets his scythe. — Milton. 

2. Their idleness, as well as the large societies which they 
form, incline them to pleasure and gallantry. 

3. King James the First was seized with a tertian ague, 
which, when his courtiers assured him, from the proverb, that 
it was health for a king, he replied, that the proverb was 
meant for a young king. 

4. To be humane, candid, and generous, are in every case 
very high degrees of merit. 

5. Nor have I, like an heir unknown, 
Seized upon Attains his throne. 

6. I have read the Emperor's Charles the Fifth's life. 

7. Dear Savior ! what great crime have I done ? Who 
of those who believed in you have I ever treated so cruelly ? 

8. He whom ye pretend reigns in heaven, is so far from 
protecting the miserable sons of men, that he perpetually de- 
lights to blast the sweetest flowers in the garden of hope. 



576 SYNTACTICAL FORMS. 

9. We speak that we do know, and testify that we have 
seen. 

10. There is nothing places religion in so disadvantageous 
a view. 

11. There is among the people of all countries and all re- 
ligions a belief of immortality, arising from the natural desire 
of living, and strengthened by uniform tradition, which has 
certainly some influence upon practice, and some effect in 
fortifying the soul against the terrors of death. 

12. Howbeit, when the Spirit of Truth is come, He will 
guide you into all truth. 

13. Some of the most sacred festivals in the Roman ritual 
were destined to salute the new kalends of January with vows 
of public and private felicity, to indulge the pious remem- 
brance of the dead and living. ■^- - '^^ 

14. How do your pulse beat ? '^ 

15. This dedication may serve for almost any book that 
has, is, or shall be published. 

16. Her price is paid, and she is sold like thou. 

17. No one mess-mate round the table was than him more 
fraught with manliness and beauty. 

18. In his days Pharaoh-Necho, king of Egypt, went up 
against the King of Assyria, to the River Euphrates, and 
King Josiah went against him, and he slew him at Megiddo, 
when he had seen him. — Ambiguous Syntax. To whom 
does he refer ? 

19. Yet you, my Creator, detest and spurn me, thy creat- 
ure, to whom Thou art bound by ties only dissoluble by the 
annihilation of one of us. — -Frankenstein. 

20. Jeoparded their lives unto the death. 

21. They lie in the Hell like sheep. 

22. The boy was sprung to manhood. — W. Scott. 

23. Although the conciliating the Liberalists and paralyz- 
ing the Royalists occupied considerable time, he was never 
for an instant diverted from his purpose. — W. Scott. This 
use of the participle is not destitute of authority. What 
form, however, is preferable? 

24. It was Dunois, the young and brave, was bound for 
Palestine. — W. Scott. Of what is there an Ellipsis here ? 



PARSING. 577 

His oath of honor on the shrine, he graved it with his 
sword. — W. Scott. What is the pleonasm here ? 

25. Courtesy itself must convert to disdain if you come in 
her presence. 

26. The buckler was of an oblong and concave figure, four 
feet in length, and two and a half in breadth, framed of light 
wood, and covered with a bulVs hide, and strongly guarded 
with plates of brass. — Gibbon. 

27. Gentle reader, let you and I, in like manner, endeavor 

to improve the inclosure. — Southey. 

28. At an hour 

When all slept sound save she who bore them both. — Frankenstein. 

29. The philosopher who has spent a lifetime in laborious 
but fruitless inquiry, does not enjoy the same reputation as 
him who, with less labor, and possibly less talent, has added 
something to the catalogue of discovery. 

30. It is not fit for such as us to sit with the rulers of the 
land. — Scott's Ivanhoe. 



CHAPTER XL 

PARSING. 

§ 588. Parsing is resolving a sentence into its elements. 
These elements are of various classes. Thus, there are ele- 
mentary sounds, or Phonetic elements ; there are elementary 
signs of these sounds, or Orthographic elements ; there are 
Etymological elements ; there are Syntactical elements. 
Now a sentence may be analyzed in reference to either of 
these classes. The word Parsing is generally used in refer- 
ence to its application to Etymology and Syntax. Etymo- 
logical parsing describes words according to their classifica- 
tion, formation, and derivation, in conformity with the doc- 
trines exhibited in Part IV. Syntactical parsing shows 
what are the laws of their arrangement in sentences, in con- 
formity with the doctrines exhibited in Part V. 

Oo 



57 8 SYNTACTICAL FORMS. 

EXAMPLES OF PARSING. 

§ 589. 1. ''Virtue rewards her followers." 

Which is the Subject ? (Virhie.) Is it modified ? (No.) 

Which is the Predicate ? (^Rewards.) 

W^hich is the Object ? (^Followers.) 

Virtue is a common abstract Noun, from the Latin virtus. 
It is of the Third Person, Singular Number, usually of the 
Neuter Gender, but here Personified in the Feminine Gender. 
It is both the Grammatical Subject and the Logical of the 
verb rewards ; is in the nominative case. (Give the rule 1.) 

Rewards is a verb of the weak conjugation (conjugate the 
verb), from the French re guerdon^ in the Active voice, Indic- 
ative Mode, Present Tense, Third person, singular number, 
and agrees with its nominative virtue. (Repeat the rule, 33.) 

Her is a Personal Pronoun (Anglo-Saxon hire), in the 
Genitive case, and limits followers. (Repeat the rule, 2.) 

Followers. A common noun (correlative with leaders), 
from the Anglo-Saxon verb folgian, in the Third Person, 
Singular Number, Neuter Gender, and governed by the Transi- 
tive verb rewards. (Repeat the rule, 39.) 

2. " He labored faithfully in the cause, but was unsuc- 
cessful." 

How many sentences are here ? (Two co-ordinate sen- 
tences.) 

Which is the subject of the first sentence ? (■^<2-) 

Which is the predicate ? {Labored.) 

Is the predicate modified ? (Yes, by faithfully in the 
cause.) 

Which is the subject of the second sentence ? (IZe, un- 
derstood.) 

Which is the predicate of the second sentence ? ( Unsiic- 
cessful.) ^ 

Are either the subject or the predicate in the second sen- 
tence modified ? (No.) 

He (Anglo-Saxon he) is a Personal pronoun, of the Third 
Person, Masculine Gender (Decline he), of the singular num- 
ber, in the nominative case. 

Labored is a verb, from the Latin laboro, of the weak 



EXERCISES IN PARSING. 



579 



conjugation (conjugate it), in the active voice, Indicative 
Mode, Past Tense, Third person, singular number, and agrees 
with its subject he. (Give the rule, 33,) 

Faithfully is an adverb, from the Adjective faithful, and 
enters into combination with the verb labored. (Give the 
rule, 51.) 

In is a preposition, showing the relation between cause and 
labored. (Give the rule, 52.) 

The is the Definite Article, and defines cause. (Give the 
rule, 14.) 

Cause is a Common noun, from the Latin causa^ of the 
Third Person, singular number, neuter gender, in the ob- 
jective case, and governed by in. (Give the rule, 52.) 

PROMISCUOUS EXAMPLES IN CORRECT SYNTAX. 

§ 590. The Learner is expected to Parse all or a part of 
the following examples, and particularly to give the rules for 
the words in Italics : 

1. ^' His power and the number of his adherents declining' 
daily, he consented to a partition of the kingdom." — -North 
American Review. 

2. '' The fire-places were of a truly patriarchal magnitude, 
where the v/hole family, old and young, master and servant, 
black and white, nay^ even the very cat and dog, enjoyed a 
community of privilege, and had each a prescriptive right to 
a corner." — -W. Irving. 

3. ''At these primitive tea-parties the utmost propriety 
and dignity of deportment prevailed : no flirting nor coquet- 
ting ; no gambling of old ladies, nor hoyden chattering and 
romping of young ones ; no self-satisfied struttings of wealthy 
gentlemen with their brains in their pockets, nor amusing 
concerts and monkey divertisements of smart young gentle- 
men with no brains at all." — ^W. Irving. 

4. '' On, then, all Frenchmen that have hearts in their 
bodies !" — Carlisle. 

5. '' The Bastile is still to take =to be taken." 

6. " Oh I that I could but baptize every heart with the sym- 
pathetic feeling of what the city-pent child is condemned to 
lose ; how blank, and poor, and joyless must be the images 



580 SYNTACTICAL FORMS. 

which fill its infant bosom to that of the country one, whose 
mind 

" Will be a mansion for all lovely forms, 
His memory be a dwelling-place 
For all sweet sounds and harmonies." — W. Howitt. 

To that is an idiomatic expression occasionally met with, but 
it should not be encouraged. By filling out the ellipsis we 
get the more correct expression. 

7. '' All morning since nine there has been a cry^ To the 
Bastile /" — Carlisle. How do you parse to the Bastile? 

8. " Bethink thee, William, of thy fault, 
Thy pledge and broken oath ; 
And give me back my maiden-vow. 
And give me back my troth." — Mallet. 

9. "With a callous heart there can be no genius in the 
imagination or wisdom in the mind ; and therefore the prayer, 
v/ith equal truth and sublimity, says, ^Incline your hearts 
unto wisdom.' Resolute thoughts find words for themselves, 
and make their own vehicle. Impression and expression are 
relative ideas. He who feels deeply will express strongly. 
The language of slight sensations is naturally feeble and 
superficial." — Philip Francis. No and or are substituted for 
neither and nor, 

10. "I must not close my letter without giving you one 
principal event of my history, which was, that (in the course 
of my late tour) I set out one morning before j^z;e o'' clocks the 
moon shining through a dark and misty autumnal air, and got 
to the sea-coast time enough to be at the sun's levee. I saw 
the clouds and dark vapors open gradually to the right and 
left, rolling over one another in great smoky wreaths, and the 
tide (as it flowed gently in upon the sands) first whitening, 
then slightly tinged with gold and blue ; and all at once a 
little line of insufferable brightness, that (before I can write 
these five words) was grown to half an orb, and now to a 
whole one too glorious to he distinctly seen. It is very odd 
it makes no figure on paper ; yet I shall remember it as long 
as the sun^ or, at least, as long as I shall endure. I wonder 
whether any body ever saw it before ? I hardly believe it." 
- — Gray. 



EXERCISES IN PARSING. QQl 

Upon what does to be depend ? What kind of a phrase is 
all at once 7 How is sun parsed ? 

11. ''To the Right Honorable the Earl of Chesterfield, 

*' My Lord, 

" I have been lately informed by the proprietor of the 
World that two papers, in which my Dictionary is recom- 
mended to the public, were written by your lordship. To be 
so distinguished is an honor which, being very little accus- 
tomed to favors from the great, I know not well how to re- 
ceive or in what terms to acknowledge. 

'' When upon some slight encouragement I first visited 
your lordship, I was overpowered, like the rest of mankind, by 
the enchantment of your address, and could not forbear to 
wish that I might boast myself le vainqueur du vainqueur 
de la terre ; that I might obtain that regard for which I saw 
the world contending. But I found my attendance so little 
encouraged, that neither pride nor modesty would suffer me 
to continue it. When I had once addressed your lordship in 
public, I had exhausted all the art of pleasing which a re- 
tired and uncourtly scholar can possess. I had done all that 
I could ; and no man is well pleased to have his all neglected, 
be it ever so little. 

- /J Seven years, my lord, have now passed since I waited in 
your outward room, or was repulsed from your door ; during 
which time I have been pushing on my work through dif- 
ficulties of which it is useless to complain, and have brought 
it at last to the verge of publication without one word of en- 
couragement or one smile of favor. Such treatment I did 
not expect, for I never had a patron before. 

'' The shepherd in Virgil grew acquainted with Love, and 
found him a native of the rocks. 

" Is not a patron, my lord, one wiio can look with uncon- 
cern on a man struggling for life in the water, and then en- 
cumbers him with help ? The notice which you have been 
pleased to take of my labors, had it been early, had been 
kind ; but it has been delayed till I am indifferent, and can 
not enjoy it ; till I am solitary, and can not impart it ; till I 
am known, and do not want it. I hope it is no very cynical 



582 SYNTACTICAL FORMS. 

asperity not to confess obligations where no benefit has been 
received, or to be unwilling that the public should consider 
me as owing that to a patron which Providence has enabled 
me to do for myself. 

^« Having carried on my work thus far with so little obli- 
gation to any favorer of learning, I shall not be disappointed, 
though I should conclude it, if less be possible, with less ; for 
I have been long wakened from that dream of hope in which 
I once boasted myself with so much exultation. 

" My lord, your lordship's most humble and most obedient 
servant, Samuel Johnson." 

12. " Triumphal arch ! that filFst the sky. 
When storms begin to part, 
I ask not proud philosophy 

To tell me what thou art." — Campbell. 

13. " St. Agnes' s Eve ! A bitter chill it was ! 

The owl, /or all his Feathers, was a-coW — Keats. 

14. " Half the failures in life arise from pulling in one's 
horse when he is leaping." — Guesses at Truth. 

15. " Who builds a church to God, and not to fame, 

Will never mark the marble with his name." — Pope. 

16. '< Some men so dislike the dust kicked up by the gen- 
eration they belong to, that, being unable to pass, they lag 
behind it." — Guesses at Truth. 

17. " The most mischievous liars are those who keep on 
the verge of truth." — Ibidem. 

18. "Excessive indulgence to others, especially to chil- 
dren, is, in fact, only self-indulgence under an alias.'''' — 
Ibidem. 

19. " Purity is the feminine, truth the masculine of hon- 
or." — -Ibidem. 

20. " Go search it there, where to be born and die, 
Of rich and poor makes all the history." 

21. " There needs no other proof that happiness is the most 
wholesome moral atmosphere, and that in which the immor- 
tality of man is destined ultimately to thrive, than the eleva- 
tion of soul, the religious aspiration which attends the first 
assurance, the first sober assurance of true love." — Deer- 
brook. 



EXERCISES IN PARSING. 



583 



22. <' It was opened by a young girl of thirteen or four- 
teeny — Dickens. 

23. "To Brighton the Pavilion lends a lath and plaster 
grace." 

24. What do you understand by meum arid tuum? Meum 
is all I can get. Tuum is all others can prevent me from 
getting. — Punch. 

25. When I say that the '^ rose smells sweet," and '' I 
smell the rose," the word smell has two meanings. In the 
latter sentence, I speak of a certain sensation in my own 
mind ; in the former, of a certain quality in the flower which 
produces the sensation. Here the word smell is applied with 
equal propriety to both. 

26. "Away went Gilpin, and away 
Went Gilpin's hat and wig ; 
He lost them sooner than at first, 

For wkyi they were too big." — Cowper. 

27. Beauty is perfection unmodified by a predominating 
expression. 

28. Did you never observe (says Mr. Gray, in a letter to 
a friend), while rocking ivincls are piping loud^ that pause, 
as the gust is recollecting itself, and rising upon the ear in a 
shrill and plaintive note, like the swell of an ^olian harp ? 
I do assure you there is nothing in the world so like the voice 
of a spirit. 

29. The foundations of his Fame are laid deep and imper- 
ishable^ and the superstructure is already erected. — Neio 
Englander. Explain the idiom. See § 516. , 

30. The language of the moral law is, man shall not kill; 
the language of the law of nature is, a stone will fall to the 
ground. — Whewell. Explain the difference in use of the 
words shall and will. 

31. Each kind of life has its own system of organs. The 
center of the organic life is the heart ; of the animal life, the 
brains. The functions of organic life act continuously ,* those 
of animal life, intermittingly. — Pre-Adamite Earth. Give 
the rule for each. What ellipsis is there in the second mem- 
ber of the second sentence ? 

32. What signify to me the beautiful discourses and praises 



584 SYNTACTICAL FORMS. 

one lavishes on one^s self and ojie^s friends ? — Lamartine. 
Give an account of one, &c. 

33. Spirits are not finely touched 

But to fine issues : nor Nature never lends 
The smallest scruple of her excellence, 
But, like a thrifty Goddess, she determines 
Herself the Glory of a creditor ; 
Both thanks and use. — Measure for Measure. 

Justified on the ground of ancient usage. 

34. The affections are to the intellect what the forge is to 
the metal ; it is they which temper and shape it to all great 
purposes : soften, strengthen, and purify it. — Mrs. Jameson. 

35. He was far from conspiring the death of rivals whom 
he admired the most and feared the least in the Convention. 
— Lamartine. 

36. Malevolti had noticed these splenetic efforts ; but 
though a man of fiery character, and proud enough to dare 
the proudest he who ruffled his complacency by a look, &c. 
In what case is he, and how used ? 

37. But the only reliable and certain evidence of devotion 
to the Constitution is, to abstain, on the one hand, from vio- 
lating it, and to repel, on the other, all attempts to violate 
it. It is only by faithfully performing these high duties that 
the Constitution can be preserved, and with it the Union. — 
J. C. Calhoun. What part of the last sentence does it rep- 
resent ? 

38. And such, Mr. President, was the high estimate which 
I formed of his transcendent talents, at the end of his service 
in the executive department under the administration of Mr. 
Monroe, that, had he been translated to the highest office in 
the Government, I should have felt perfectly assured that, 
under his auspices, the honor, the prosperity, and the glory 
of our country would have been safely preserved. — H. Clay. 

39. We shall delight to speak of him to those who are 
coming after us. When the time shall come that we shall 
go, one after another, in succession, to our graves, we shall 
carry with us a deep impression of his genius and character, 
his honor and integrity, his amiable deportment in private 
life, and the purity of his exalted patriotism. — D. W^ebster. 



CHOICE OF WORDS AND CONSTRUCTIONS. 585 



CHAPTER XII. 

RULES FOR THE CHOICE OF WORDS AND GRAMMATI- 
CAL CONSTRUCTIONS. 

§ 591. Usage gives the law to language; usage, 

Quern penes arbitrium est et jus et norma loquendi. 

But we are met by the inquiry, What kind of usage ? 

Rule I. — It must be reputable usage. Here we are met 
by the inquiry. What is reputable usage ? To this it may be 
safely answered, it is such usage as is found in the works of 
those who are regarded by the public as reputable authors. 

Rule H. — It must be national usage. It is not enough 
that a word or phrase is used in some county in England, or 
in some section in our own country. It must be the general 
language of the nation at large. 

Rule III. — It must be present usage. Old words are go- 
ing out of use. New words are coming into use. It may 
not always be easy to determine what present usage is. A 
word lately coined may be more safely used in a newspaper 
than in grave history. An obsolete word can be used in 
poetry when it can not be in prose. Pope's rule is a good one : 

" In words, as fashions, the same rule will hold, 
Alike fantastic if too new or old ; 
Be not the first by whom the new is tried, 
Nor yet the last to lay the old aside." 

Rule IV. — When the usage is divided as to any words 
and phrases, and when one of the expressions is susceptible 
of more than one meaning, while the other admits of only one, 
the expression which is Univocal is to be preferred to the 
one that is equivocal. Thus, proposal for a thing offered or 
proposed is better than proposition, which has also another 
meaning. Thus we say, " He demonstrated the fifth prop- 
osition, and he rejected the proposal of his friend." So the 
term primitive, as equivalent to original, is preferable to 
primary. The latter is synonymous with principal, and is 



586 SYNTACTICAL FORMS. 

opposed to secondary ; the former is equivalent to original^ 
and is opposed to derivative or acquired. 

Rule V.— In doubtful cases Analogy should be regarded. 
Thus it is better to use scarcely as an adverb than to use 
scarce. 

Rule VI. — When expressions are in other respects equal, 
that should be preferred which is most agreeable to the 
EAR. Thus authenticity is preferable to authenticalness. 

Rule VII.— Simplicity should be regarded. Thus accept 
and approve are preferable to accept of and approve of. 

Rule VIII. — Etymology should be regarded. Thus un- 
loose should, by analogy, signify to tie^ just as to untie sig- 
nifies to loose. To annul and disannul ought, by analogy, 
to be contraries, though they are used as synonymous. 

Rule IX. — All those expressions which, according to the 
established rules of the language, either have no meaning or 
involve a contradiction, or, according to the fair construction 
of the words, convey a meaning different from the intention 
of the speaker, should be dismissed. Thus, when a person 
says, " JJe sings a good song,^^ the words strictly imply that 
the song is good; whereas the speaker means to say, ^^He 
sings well.^^ 

purity. 

§ 592. Purity in the English language implies three 
things : 
^ I. That the words be English. 

II. That their construction be in the English language. 

III. That the words and phrases employed express the pre- 
cise meaning which custom has assigned to them. 

Accordingly, in three different ways it may be injured : 

1. The words may not be English. This fault has been 
called Barbarism. 

2. The construction of the sentence may not be in the En- 
glish idiom. This fault has the name of Solecism. 

3. The words and phrases may not be employed to ex- 
press the precise meaning which custom has affixed to them. 
This fault is called Impropriety. 



CHOICE OF WORDS AND CONSTRUCTIONS. 537 
• BARBARISM. 

§ 593. Barbarism may consist in the use of words entirely- 
obsolete ; or in the use of words entirely new j or in the use 
of new formations and derivations. 

1. " Their alliance was sealed by the nuptial of Henry 
with the daughter of the Italian prince." — Gibbon. Nuptial 
is not in use now, though it formerly was. Nuptials is the 
proper word. Such words as connexity^ introitive^ fixtious^ 
are barbarisms. 

2. ''I got a little scary, and a good deal mad." Here 
scary is improperly used for frightened. 

3. " His hauteur was intolerable." Here the French word 
hauteur is improperly used for the English word haughtiness, 

4. Foreign phrases and foreign idioms, instead of English 
phrases and idioms, are barbarisms. When, however, we re- 
ceive from a foreign nation an invention or discovery for 
which we have no term, we can then be justified in receiv- 
ing the name along with the thing. In this way we intro- 
duce into the language such words as gong, gutta percha^ 
&c. The affectation of using old words, or new words, or 
foreign words disgusts a person of a correct taste. This af- 
fectation is very well hit off, in respect to style, in Hannah 
More's satirical letter from a lady to her Friend, in the reign 
of George the Fourth, quoted by Harrison^ p. 108 : 

"Dear Madam, " Alamode Castle. 

" I no sooner found myself here than I visited my new 
apartments, which are composed of five pieces. The small 
room that gives upon the garden is practiced through the 
great one, and there is no other issue. As I was exceeded 
with fatigue, I no sooner made my toilet than I let myself 
fall upon a bed of repose, where sleep came to surprise me. 
My lord and I are in the intention to make good cheer and 
a great expense ; and this country is in possession to furnish 
withal to amuse one's self. All that England has of illus- 
trious ; all that youth has of amiable, or beauty of ravish- 
ing, sees itself in this quarter." Here the words are in En- 
glish, but the idiom is French. 



588 SYNTACTICAL FORMS. 



SOLECISM. 

§ 594. The violation of any of the rules of syntax is a 
SOLECISM. The following are specimens : 

1. " The zeal of the seraphim breaks forth in a becoming 
warmth of sentiments and expressions, as the character which 
is given us of Mm denotes that generous scorn and intrepidity 
which attends heroic virtue." — Spectator. The solecism 
here consists in using a plural noun for a singular. 

2. " The vice of covetousness is what enters deepest into 
the soul of any other.'''' The solecism here consists in using 
the superlative for the comparative. It should be, " The vice 
of covetousness is what enters deeper into the soul than any 
other." 

3. " There is one that will think himself obliged to double 
his kindness and caresses of me." Kind7iess ought not to be 
followed by of. 

IMPROPRIETY. 

§ 595. Impropriety is an offense against Lexicography, as 
Barbarism is an oifense against Etymology, and as Solecism 
is one against Syntax. 

1. '' There is no sort of joy more grateful to the mind of 
man than that which ariseth from the invention of truth." 
For invention^ discovery should have been used. 

2. "To make such acquirements as fit them for useful 
avocations.''^ The impropriety here consists in using the 
word avocations for vocations. By the latter is meant a 
^' trade," or " profession, ".or '• calling ;" by the former, what- 
ever withdraws or diverts us from that business. 

3. " The learned well bred, and the well bred sincere ; 
Modestly bold, and humanly severe." — Pope. 

Humanly is here improperly used for humanely. 

4. "No man had ever less friends and more enemies." 
Less refers to quantity, fewer to number. It should be 
" fewer friends." 



PART VII. 

RHETORICAL FORMS IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 



CHAPTER I. 

PRELIMINARY STATEMENTS. 

§ 596. Ehetoric, Greek pTjTopLKrj, from prjrcop, a speaker, 
has nearly the same signification as eloquence, Latin elo- 
quentta, from eloquor, to speak out. It may be described 
as the Art of speaking well ; and, when applied to written 
composition, as the iVrt of writing well. And since persua- 
sion is often the principal object of the speaker and the writer 
in the higher specimens of the art, it may be more exactly 
defined as the Art of using language well /or the purpose 
of persuasion. This may be accepted as a sufficiently cor- 
rect definition of the term, though it falls short of the mean- 
ing often attached to it, since it does not include several va- 
rieties of composition in which persuasion is not aimed at, but 
Vhich in their character are rhetorical. 

But in order to know what true Rhetoric or eloquence is, 
we must contemplate it under a three-fold view, namely, 
first, in its origin in the soul of the speaker ; second, as it 
comes forth in living sounds from his lips ; third, as it ap- 
pears on the printed page. The Second belongs to the sub- 
ject of elocution, which does not fall within the limits of the 
present work, though of course, in laying down rules for the 
use of language, we lay down rules, to a certain extent, for 
speaking as well as writing it. Our business is chiefly with 
the Third. The First is noticed only in its bearings upon 
the third, to which, indeed, it has the same relation as the 
fountain to the stream. 

§ 597. Eloquence is the language of emotion. It is such 
an expression of emotion felt by a speaker that his hearers, 
under its influence, feel the same emotion. 



590 RHETORICAL FORMS. 

According to this definitioiij where there is no emotion 
there can not be eloquence ; for evidently that can not be ex- 
pressed which has no existence. It likevv^ise follows that^ 
whatever other qualifications a speaker may possess, as long 
as he is deficient in emotion he must be deficient in eloquence. 
He may be philosophic, instructive, and even attractive, but 
not an eloquent speaker. But if, like James Otis, the ora- 
tor of New England in the days of colonial dependence, he 
has a " soul of fire," he may be expected to kindle a flame 
of fire in the breasts of others. 

§ 598. Moreover, for the highest eloquence there must be 
continued emotion. There may, indeed, be a sudden burst 
of over-mastering feeling, as v/hen one rises in debate to re- 
pel a personal attack, which may express itself in the most 
eloquent language. But for a sustained, effective, and per- 
suasive eloquence, there must be a sustained feeling during 
both the meditation and delivery. An emotion thus con- 
tinued for a length of time will, by the law of association, 
collect ail those thoughts, reasonings, images, and illustra- 
tions which are related to the emotion, the subject, and the 
occasion ; will render them vivid in the mind of the speak- 
er, and help him to express them in vivid language. What 
was it but a permanent strong emotion that enabled De- 
mosthenes to sustain his eloquence for years against Phil- 
ip ? What but a permanent emotion could have sustained 
the eloquence of Cicero during the delivery of his orations 
against Catiline ? What but long-continued emotion, through 
years of opposition, could have sustained the eloquence of 
Wilberforce until it persuaded the British nation to put an 
end to the slave trade ? The light of truth, unlike the light 
of the sun, moves slowly. The ardor of conviction is often 
but slowly transferred into the souls of others to make them 
burn with a kindred glow. A community is often but a re- 
fractory substance to deal with. There are so many com- 
binations of error, prejudice, and passion in the public mind, 
that it is not easily reduced to a oneness of thought and feel- 
ing with that of the orator. The heart of the public is so 
mineralized, that nothing but the continued as well as in- 
tense ignition of his heart, brought closely into contact with 



PRELIMINARY STATEMENTS. 59^ 

it, can melt it from its various affinities into a flow of one 
common emotion. 

§ 599. It should be added, that emotion in the soul of the 
orator must spring from the subject itself and not from any 
thing extraneous and accidental. A man may rise in a pub- 
lic assembly under the influence of some strong emotion, as 
of bashfulness, of despair, or of love of praise, and find that 
an emotion of this kind, arising from something extraneous 
to the subject, only disqualifies him for speaking, by with- 
drawing his attention from the subject, and fixing it upon 
that which is extraneous. But when, like Patrick Henry, 
his whole soul is so absorbed in the subject at issue, that it 
'' haunts him like a passion," in solitude as well as in the as- 
sembly ; when, in his deep devotion to a cause like his, he can 
say, " Give me liberty, or give me death !" like him he will 
be eloquent. Like him he will find that the common heart 
of his audience will respond in strong throbbings to his own. 

§ 600. And, further, the emotion in the soul of the speak- 
er, springing from a view of the subject, should be regulated 
by a sound judgment. It should be so strong as to invigor- 
ate the other faculties of the mind, but not so overwhelming 
as to disturb them in their movements. There is a degree 
of excitement bordering on derangement, under which the 
orator may sometimes speak with great eflect, like MacBriar 
in Old Mortality. In this state of mind he is possessed by 
his subject, rather than possesses it. And though he may 
within certain limits carry his audience along with him on 
the '' seraph wings of ecstasy," there is danger that, taking 
leave of his reason and his audience, he may run into the 
extravagance of mere rant and impotent passion. Emotion 
must string his nerves and -^ imp his eagle wings," but judg- 
ment must direct his flight. 

^ 601. In looking at the origin of eloquence in the soul of 
the orator, we find that it is closely related to the love of 
truth. Truth is the grand instrument for making others feel 
as he feels. A love of truth must animate the orator in all 
his investigations, as well as in the delivery of his opinions, 
or he will not tax his mind to the full and successful exer- 
tions of his powers. A mind that has a strong affinity for 



592 ' RHETORICAL FORMS. 

truth can first discover and then unfold it to others, when an- 
other mind, influenced only by the love of gain, or of reputa- 
tion, or of office, would failr Truth is the natural invigora- 
tor and nourisher of the mind. He who loves truth is the 
better qualified to present it to others in such a way that 
they too will feel its influence. Moreover, when an orator 
evinces to an audience that he has a strong love of truth in 
his soul, he has a deeper hold of that audience, because he 
has their confidence, than he can have who, by falsehood, is 
skilled to " make the worse appear the better reason." What 
was it but the love of the truth that gave the Apostle Paul 
powder over his audience ? With what candor and gentleness 
does he treat the arguments and the prejudices of his hear- 
ers, that by all means he should win some to the knowledge 
of the truth ! It was the love of truth, and not the desire 
of victory, that formed the living principle of his argumenta- 
tion, as it was the ruling principle of his life. As his Mas- 
ter came to bear witness to the truth, so Paul felt, in his 
fervent love of the truth, that he was set for the defense of 
the Gospel, the sum and substance of the truth. 

§ 602. Moreover, there must be in the soul of the orator a 
strong sense of right, to qualify him to enforce what is right 
upon others. There are men whose want of moral sensibility 
is such, that they can look with indifference upon some atro- 
cious crime as they can likewise upon some glorious act of 
virtue. Their pulse neither quickens with the flush of an- 
ger in the one case, nor with the generous glow of admira- 
tion in the other. Such men can not be eloquent in those 
cases in which there must be strong appeals to the sense of 
right and wrong, that deep principle in the common heart of 
man, which no orator can safely neglect. 

What was it that fired the eloquence of Burke, when, on 
a certain occasion, it shook the walls that confined it with 
anathemas almost superhuman ? Was it not the deep sense 
of violated right, the strong abhorrence of that '' Geographical 
morality" which characterized the Governor of India and his 
minions ? How could he have described the tortures in- 
flicted by his orders, the flagrant injustice committed by his 
authority ; how could he have painted <' agonizing nature 



PRELIMINARY STATEMENTS. 593 

vibrating in horrid suspense between life and destruction," 
and, in the climax of the crimes, '' death introduced into the 
very sources of life," in such a way that a '< convulsive sensa- 
tion of horror, and affright, and smothered execration per- 
vaded all the male part of the hearers, and audible sobbings 
and screams, with tears and fainting, the female," unless his 
own moral sensibilities had been deeply excited ? Without his 
strong hatred of vice, which is no other than a passionate love 
of virtue, how could he have made the accused party bear 
testimony the strongest ever borne to the powers of any ora- 
tor in any country ? '' For half an hour," said Mr. Hastings, 
*'I looked up at the orator in a reverie of wonder ; and, dur- 
ing that space, I actually felt myself the most culpable man 
on earth ;" adding, however, '' but I recurred to my own 
bosom, and there found a consciousness that consoled me un- 
der all I heard and all I suffered." It is an ancient opinion 
that none but a good man can be an eminent orator. The 
opinion is a sound one, for this reason, if for no other, that 
none but a good man can have that hatred of vice and wrong 
which are no other than a passionate love of right and virtue. 
Lacking goodness, he lacks the highest inspiration, and the 
most powerful instrumentality. 

§ 603. But in order to speak with effect, it is necessary 
that the orator should have distinctly in his mind the end for 
which he speaks. This end must stand forth in the field of 
his vision distinct and prominent, as the one thing to be 
thought of during the meditation and delivery of his discourse ; 
as the one thing to be held up before his hearers. What 
he says, he is to regard as valuable only as it is a means 
adapted to promote that end. Whatever he regards as for- 
eign to this instrumentality, he rejects, however beautiful in 
thought or expression it may be. To accomplish this end, 
to conduct his hearers to the point to which he wishes to lead 
them, he endeavors to fill their minds with the same thoughts 
and feelings which fill his mind ; to link in his ideas on the 
subject in hand with their habitual ideas concerning duty, 
moral excellence, the public weal, and personal happiness. 
Whether in the cause of justice at the bar, or in the cause of 
the public weal in the deliberative assembly, or in the cause 

P p 



594 RHETORICAL FORMS. 

of religion in the pulpit, he must have a distinct end in his 
mind, and distinct ideas related to this end, and a distinct 
mode by which he endeavors to connect his ideas with their 
ideas, and thus to bring them to act with him. This was 
what distinguished the younger Pitt. He always had a dis- 
tinct end in speaking related to distinct ideas or principles 
thought out in his mind, which, in their application, became 
what was called The Pitt System. 

§ 604. Another requisite is, that the orator should have 
good sense in adapting the means which he employs to the 
end. He must not only have in his mind truths that have 
a bearing upon the subject in hand, but those truths which 
have a bearing upon the minds of his hearers. He must, 
therefore, fully understand the state of their feelings, the de- 
gree of their knowledge, the strength of their prejudices and 
predilections, otherwise he will fail of accomplishing his end, 
from not applying the appropriate means. All eloquence is 
relative. It must be related to the audience, to the time, to 
the place, to the occasion. The speaker must not mistake 
his office, which is to apjyly truth, for that of the philosopher, 
which is to discover truth. He must have that ready per- 
ception of the proprieties of the occasion, that tact in seizing 
hold of any relationship between him and his audience, which 
Paul manifested when he made the declaration, " I am a 
Pharisee." Burke, as a philosophic statesman, in addressing 
the House of Commons, sometimes " Thought of convincing 
while they thought of dining ;" while Charles Townsend, a 
practical man, could always, in the language of the formicr, 
''hit the House between wind and water." 

§ 605. Besides good sense, in addressing his audience, the 
orator must, for the highest excellence in his art, have the 
power of distinct and vivid conception, in order that he may 
communicate a distinct impression of the objects which he 
describes. It is only when he sees the objects in the past, 
the distant, and the future, that he can so describe them to 
others ; that they can see them as in a picture, in their true 
forms and colors, as if they were actually before their eyes. 
Leonardo da Vinci had in his mind certain vivid and distinct 
conceptions of the Last Supper, which, with his pencil, by 



PRELIMINARY STATEMENTS. 595 

light, and shade, and color, he exhibited, in his celebrated 
painting in the Cathedral of Milan, in forms so true to nature 
that the spectator could hardly resist the impression that he 
was actually gazing upon breathing bodies. What are light, 
and shade, and color to the painter in one of the fine arts, 
such are words, and tones, and gestures to the orator in an- 
other and a higher art. By means of them his own concep- 
tions, as if pictured, are visibly set forth to the view of oth- 
ers. He who has the power of picturesque description has 
an advantage over him who has not : first, in his power of 
securing attention ; secondly, in his power of making himself 
understood ; thirdly, in awakening a deep interest in the 
speaker, such as he could not awaken if he trusted to dull 
generalities. It was this power of picturesque description 
which gave a charm to the eloquence of our countryman, 
Fisher Ames : " Experience," he says, " has already been 
the prophet of events, and the cries of our future victims 
have already reached us. The western inhabitants are not 
a silent and uncomplaining sacrifice. The voice of humanity 
issues from the shade of their wilderness. It exclaims, that 
* while one hand is held out to reject the treaty, the other 
grasps a tomahawk !' It summons our imagination to the 
scenes that will open. Indeed, it is no great effort of the 
imagination to conceive that events so near are already be- 
gun. I can fancy that I listen to the yells of savage venge- 
ance and the shrieks of torture. Already they seem to sigh 
in the west wind ; already they mingle with every echo from 
the mountains." Every sentence here contains a distinct 
image ; and the whole is so picturesque, that we can see the 
whole as if on canvas. 

§ 606. Moreover, there must be a strong desire to express 
to others the emotions which the speaker feels. Strong feel- 
ing naturally seeks to express itself in words ; for in doing 
this man finds relief, just as the brute creation show forth 
pleasure or pain by inarticulate sounds. In the intercourse 
of private life, men under the influence of any emotion ever 
seek to pour out their thoughts into the ear of private friend- 
ship, or in a more public way give vent to their feelings 
Such is the strength of the social principle, that speak the 



596 RHETORICAL FORMS. 

orator must. He is a man of high sympathies. He has 
thoughts which he longs to communicate to his audience, that 
they may feel as he feels. He speaks because he has some- 
thing which he wishes to say, and not because he wishes to 
say something. And when, under the influence of his emo- 
tions, he rises to address an audience, in his strong sympathy 
with his hearers, whom he wishes to think as he does, he is 
prepared to appeal directly to their hearts. Or if he uses the 
forms of dialectics, it is ''logic set on fire" by the ardor of 
conviction. And if he possess the other attributes of the 
orator, thoughts will force their way from the well-spring of 
his heart up to his lips, where words, '' like nimble servitors," 
will skip into their places to supply his wants. 

§ 607. Another attribute in the soul of the orator is a 
strong will^ which shows itself in a fixed determination not 
to give up the cause which he has espoused, if he believes it 
to be a good one. Firmness of purpose has the same ad- 
vantage over feebleness and fluctuation, in eloquence, that it 
has in any other department of human action. Let one 
come into an assembly determined, at all events, to carry 
that measure ; let him act and speak in accordance with this 
high resolve, and the impression produced upon the audience 
will not only be deep, but controlling. 

Tenacern propositi virum 
Non civium ardor prava jubentium, 
Non vultus instantis Tyranni, 
Mente quatit solida. 

The stormy waves of debate roll round him, dashing upon 
him without moving him. The outbreakings of popular 
phrensy, the darkening frown of the tyrant terrify him not, 
shake him not from his firm purpose. 

The influence which a man of a strong will has upon 
others sometimes amounts almost to fascination. He is to 
them a master-spirit, to be obeyed ; a controlling genius, to 
be followed. All the energies of his nature, his reason and 
good sense, his imagination and taste, his social affections and 
passions, his voice and his hand, stand ready to obey the bid- 
ding of his will, and, as a consequence, others obey it too. 
An unconquerable will gave a power to the speeches of Lord 



PREI.IMINARY STATEMENTS. 597 

Chatham in Parliament far beyond what their mere logical 
argumentation could have done. Men yielded to him because 
they saw that he Would not swerve from his purpose. Oppo- 
sition shrunk away because it was unavailing. Men sym- 
pathized with his mental energy, and willed and acted as he 
willed. 

The orator must have a generous, confiding spirit, if he 
wishes his audience to have the same spirit toward him. He 
must have a quick perception of the beautiful in nature and 
in art, since, in captivating the minds of his hearers, he must 
instrumentally use the beautiful as well as the true. He 
must have a heart full of kindly affections toward his audience 
and toward his species, if he expects his audience and men 
around him to give him their kindly regards and their influ- 
ence, their determinations and their votes, if they have votes 
to give. The mind of the orator always kindles into a sym- 
pathetical feeling when brought into contact with the minds 
of an audience. 

§ 608. Having seen what eloquence is under one view, we 
can the better understand it when presented under another. 
If we understand what it is in its matter, we can the better 
understand what it is in its forms. Having seen what elo- 
quence is in its relation to the soul of the orator, we are pre- 
pared to understand what it is in its external manifestation, 
particularly what it is v/hen expressed in language, whether 
written or spoken. 

Language being, in general, the image of the soul of man, 
Ehetorical Forms are those peculiar forms of language 
vjJiich express or image forth the soul of the orator, as dis- 
tinguished from other men ; or they are those forms of lan- 
guage which he uses for the purpose of bringing the minds 
of others into the same state with his own mind. 

Rhetoric, it is true, employs the whole power of language 
for the purpose of persuasion : the power of Grammatical 
forms, of Logical forms, of Poetical forms, and also of its own 
peculiar forms. Logic would be contented with one prin- 
cipal form, namely, the Proposition in its various uses ; and 
for this. Grammar would be contented to furnish two parts 
of speech, the Substantive and the Verb. But the form of a 



598 RHETORICAL FORMS. 

sentence that will satisfy logic, rhetoric will reject as tame 
and unexpressive, and demand what is vivid and striking. 
Logic says J " My will is that you should come." Ehetoric 
says, vividly, ''Come!" Logic says, "Men are ungrateful." 
Rhetoric exclaims, '' O the ingratitude of men !" Logic says, 
"I wish to know who thou art." Rhetoric calls out, "Who 
art thou ?" 

§ 609. Rhetorical forms are of great value as the Medium 
of Intellection, whether truth is to be communicated by the 
tongue or the pen. Thus an abstract truth, which is but 
shadowy in conception, and difficult of description, becomes 
distinct by being associated with some sensible object which 
illustrates it, just as a diagram illustrates a truth in Geom- 
etry. The human mind has to lean upon matter. In the 
communication and the reception of abstract truth, it has to 
depend largely upon figurative language drawn from the ma- 
terial world. Thus those rhetorical forms which may be re- 
garded as equivalent to what is called Figurative Language 
furnish the means to the speaker and to the hearer, the one 
for communicating, and the other for receiving an idea, how- 
ever refined or abstract it may be. By this aid, in bringing 
them into communication with each other, the two can be- 
come one in thought, feeling, and purpose. The watch- word 
in battle or in revolution often derives much of its magical 
power from a sentiment expressed in some rhetorical form, 
which, passing from lip to lip, carries the same feeling from 
heart to heart. Thus " England expects every man to do 
his duty I" is a rhetorical form, called Personification. 

§ 610. A familiarity with rhetorical forms is of great iES- 
THETiCAL VALUE to thc Liugulst, uot ouly bccausc it assists 
him to perceive the import and beauty of a thought, which 
Avould otherwise be concealed under its drapery, but also be- 
cause it enables him at pleasure to produce similar forms in 
their beauty and force. Language is, to a great extent, de- 
flected from its literal to a figurative use. He who is dull 
in understanding, and applying it in its figurative use, can 
perceive and communicate only a small part of its meaning. 
Words arranged in rhetorical forms he can read in books, but 
to him they are dead forms. He can employ them in his 



PRELIMINARY STATEMENTS. 599 

own writings, but it may be only to disgust others. Said a 
sensible man, somewhat deficient in taste, " A figure is to 
me an edged tool, with which I always wound myself." 
§ 611. Moreover, Rhetoric, by its disturbing force, often 

INTERFERES WITH THE GRAMMATICAL CONSTRUCTION AND THE 

Logical significance of sentences. He, therefore, who does 
not understand that interference, can not be a good Gram- 
marian or a good Logician. Many a case of anomalous syn- 
tax can be explained only upon rhetorical grounds. Many 
an error has gained currency from mistaking rhetoric for 
logic. ''Take, eat; this is my body." Is this a Logical 
form, or is it a Rhetorical form ? In the Roman Catholic 
faith it is the first ; in the Protestant, the second. 

§ 612. The Question may often arise ^ Whether, in a given 
sentence, there is a rhetorical form ? Now it must be con- 
ceded that it is not always easy to answer this question. If 
you go back to the most ancient usage of a given word, you 
would perhaps decide that it is figurative in its application; 
whereas, if you consult only present use, it is plain and literal. 
The same word may, therefore, be regarded as tropical by 
one person who goes back to its origin, and not tropical by 
another who does not thus go back to its original meaning. 
The number of radical words in a language is comparatively 
few, and are chiefly applied to physical objects. As men 
found the stock of their ideas increasing, instead of inventing 
new terms to describe them, they applied old words with an 
extended or changed meaning, or, what is the same thing, 
used them figuratively. In this way the great body of words 
in a language have, in one stage of their history or another, 
been used tropically. The word imagination, derived from 
image, a term applied to a sensible object, was, on its first 
application to a mental faculty or operation, tropical. But 
it ceased to be tropical when it had been used so long that 
its secondary meaning became indissolubly fixed as the prin- 
cipal one, or, indeed, to most minds, as its only one. Imag- 
ination can not now be considered as a figurative term. It 
has lost its tropical meaning, at least to the mass of readers, 
if not to the scholar. What is true of imagination is true 
of vast many words. 



600 RHETORICAL FORMS. 

§ 613. One class of Rhetorical Forms are called Figures 
OF Speech. These are divided into Figures of Words and 
Figures of Thought. 

Figures of Words are called Tropes, from the Greek rpencoj 
to turn. A Trope is a word turned from its original or lit- 
eral signification to another, on account of some resemblance. 
Tropes are founded on the relation which one object bears to 
another, in virtue of which the name of the one can be sub- 
stituted for the other. See Examples under Metaphor, Me- 
tonomy, Synecdoche, Catachresis, Antonomasia, Syllepsis, 
Metalepsis. 

Figures of Thought are forms of language in which the 
words are used in their proper and literal signification, but in 
which the figure consists in the turn of thought. See Ex- 
amples under Apostrophe, Comparison, Climax, &c. 

§ 614. The common statement concerning Figures is, 

1. That they enrich language, and render it more copious. 

2. That they bestow elevation and dignity upon style. 

3. That they afford pleasure in presenting two objects at 
once, which the mind can take in without confusion. 

4. That they present a clearer and more striking view of 
the principal object than can be expressed in simple terms. 

This statement is especially true of that class of figures 
called Tropes. 

§ 615. The Rules usually given for the use of Tropes are, 

1. That they be suited to the nature of the subject ; that 
they be neither too many, nor too gay, nor too elevated. As 
nature and art open their abundant stores of illustration, 
there is no necessity for recurring to allusions that will raise 
in the mind disagreeable, mean, or vulgar ideas, except for 
the purpose of degrading the object illustrated. 

2. The resemblance upon which the trope is founded should 
be clear and obvious, and not far fetched. Trite and com- 
mon resemblances, however, should be avoided. 

3. Tropical and plain language should not be jumbled to- 
gether. 

4. Two different tropes should not meet in the same object. 



DEFINITIONS AND EXAMPLES. gQl 

DIRECTIONS FOR THE STUDY OF RHETORICAL 
FORMS. 

5* 616. I. The Definitions are to be carefully committed to 
memory. 

II. The Examples are to be carefully studied, and one at 
least under each definition is to be committed to memory, or, 
rather, learned by heart as something admired. They are to 
be studied for the same purpose for which Paintings of the 
Great Masters are studied by the young artist^ that they 
may have an influence upon the taste beyond what mere rules 
can have. 

III. Other Examples of each kind of Rhetorical Forms, 
original or selected, are to be Exhibited by the pupil. This 
exercise has been found by experience to be exceedingly 
profitable. 



CHAPTER 11. 

DEFINITIONS AND EXAMPLES. 



ALLEGORY. 

§ 617. Allegory, Greek aXXrjyopta^ of a/L/lof, other ^ and 
dyopevG), to speak, is a sentence or discourse in which the 
principal subject is described by another subject resembling 
it. It is made up of continued allusion, so that while pro- 
fessedly a description of one subject, it has an obvious resem- 
blance to another, to which every part may be metaphorically 
applied. 

THE empire of POETRY. 

This Empire is a very large and populous country. It is 
divided, like some of the countries on the Continent, into the 
higher and loioer regions. The upper region is inhabited 
by grave, melancholy, and sullen people, who, like other 



602 RHETORICAL FORMS. 

mountaineers, speak a language very different from that of 
the inhabitants of the valleys. The trees in this part of the 
country are very tall, having their tops in the clouds. Their 
horses are superior to those of Barbary, being fleeter than the 
winds. Their women are so beautiful as to eclipse the star 
of day. The great city which you see in the maps, beyond 
the lofty mountains, is the capital of this province, and is 
called Epic, It is built on a sandy and ungrateful soil, which 
few take the pains to cultivate. The length of the city is 
many days' journey, and it is otherwise of a tiresome extent. 
On leaving its gate, we always meet with men who are kill- 
ing one another ; whereas, when we pass through Ptomaiice^ 
which forms the suburbs of^^zc, and which is larger than 
the city itself, we meet with groups of happy people, who are 
hastening to the shrine of Hymen. 

The mountains of Tragedy are also in the province of 
Upper Poetry. They are very steep, with dangerous preci- 
pices ; and, in consequence, many of its people build their 
habitations at the bottom of the hills, and imagine themselves 
high enough. There have been found on these mountains 
some very beautiful ruins of ancient cities, and, from time to 
time, the materials are carried lower to build new cities ; for 
they are now never built nearly so high as they seem to have 
been in former times. 

The Lower Poetry is very similar to the swamps of Holland. 
Burlesque is the capital, which is situated amid stagnant pools. 
Princes speak there as if they had sprung from the dung-hill, 
and all the inhabitants are buffoons from their birth. Comedy 
is a city which is built on a pleasant spot ; but it is too near 
to Burlesque^ and its trade with this place has injured the 
manners of the inhabitants. 

I beg you will notice, in the map, those vast solitudes 
which lie between High and Low Poetry. They are called 
the Deserts of Common Sense. There is not a single cit}^ in 
the whole of this extensive country, and only a few cottages 
scattered at a distance from one another. The interior of 
the country is beautiful and fertile, but you need not wonder 
that there are so few that choose to reside in it ; for the en- 
trance is very rugged on all sides, the roads are narrow and 



DEFINITIONS AND EXAMPLES. QQ^ 

difficult, and there are seldom any guides to be found capable 
of conducting strangers. 

Besides, this country borders on a province where every 
person prefers to remain, because it appears to be very agree- 
able, and saves the trouble of penetrating into the Deserts of 
Co7nmon Sense. It is the province of False Thoughts. Here 
we always tread on flowers ; every thing seems enchanting. 
But its greatest inconvenience is, that the ground is not solid ; 
the foot is always sinking in the mire, however careful one 
may be. Elegy is the capital. Here the people do nothing 
but complain ; but it is said that they find a pleasure in their 
complaints. The city is surrounded with woods and rooks 
where the inhabitant walks alone, making them the confidants 
of his secrets, of the discovery of which he is so much afraid 
that he often conjures those woods and rocks never to betray 
them. 

The Empire of Poetry is watered by two rivers : one is 
the River Rhyme, which has its source at the foot of the 
Mountains of Reverie. The tops of some of these mountains 
are so elevated that they pierce the clouds. Those are called 
the Points of Sublime Thoughts. 

Many climb there by extraordinary efforts ; but almost the 
whole tumble down again, and excite, by their fall, the ridi- 
cule of those who admired them at first without knowing why. 
There are large platforms almost at the bottom of these 
mountains, which are called the Terraces of Low Thoughts, 
There are always a great number of people walking upon 
them. At the ends of these Terraces are the Caverns of 
Deep Reverie. Those who descend into them do so insensi- 
bly, being so much enrapt in their meditations that they 
enter the caverns before they are aware. These caverns are 
perfect labyrinths, and the difficulty of getting out again 
could scarcely be believed by those who have not been 
there. Above the Terraces we sometimes meet with men 
walking in easy paths, which are called the Paths of Natural 
Thoughts ; and these gentlemen ridicule equally those who 
try to scale the Points of Sublime Thoughts as well as those 
who grovel on the Terraces below. They would be in the 
right, if they could keep undeviatingly in the Paths of Nat ^ 



504 RHETORICAL FORMS. 

■ural Thoughts ; but they fall almost instantly into a snare, 
by entering into a splendid palace which is at a very little 
distance. It is the. Palace of Badinage. Scarcely have 
they entered it, when, in place of the natural thoughts which 
they formerly had, they dwell upon such only as are mean 
and vulgar. Those, however, who never abandon the Paths 
of Natural Thoughts are the most rational of all. They 
aspire no higher than they ought, and their thoughts are never 
at variance with sound judgment. 

Besides the River Rhyme, which I have described as issu- 
ing from the foot of the mountains, there is another, called 
the River of Reason. These two rivers are at a great dis- 
tance from one another, and, as they have different courses, 
they could not be made to communicate -except by canals, 
which cost a great deal of labor ; for these canals of com- 
munication could not be formed at all places, because there 
is only one part of the River Rhyme which is in the neigh- 
borhood of the River Reaso7i ; and hence many cities situated 
on the Rhyme, such as Roundelay and Ballad, could have no 
commerce with the Reason, whatever pains might be taken 
for the purpose. Further, it would be necessary that these 
canals should cross the Deserts of Common Sense, as you will 
see by the map, and that is almost an unknown country. 
The Rhyme is a large river, whose course is crooked and un- 
equal, and, on ac^punt of its numerous falls, it is extremely dif- 
ficult to navigate. On the contrary, the Reason is very straight 
and regular, but does not carry vessels of every burden. 

There is in the Land of Poetry sl very obscure forest, 
where the rays of the sun never enter. It is the Forest of 
Bombast. The trees are close, spreading, and twined into 
each other. The forest is so ancient that it has become a 
sort of sacrilege to prune its trees, and there is no probability 
that the ground ever will be cleared. A few steps into this 
forest and we lose our road, without dreaming that we have 
gone astray. It is full of imperceptible labyrinths, from 
which no one ever returns. The Reason is lost in this forest. 

The extensive province of Imitation is very sterile. It 
produces nothing. The inhabitants are extremely poor, and 
are obliged to glean in the richer fields of the neighboring 



DEFINITIONS AND EXAMPLES. 605 

provinces ; and some even make fortunes by this beggarly 
occupation. 

The Empire of Poetry is very cold toward the north, and 
consequently this quarter is the most populous. There are 
the cities of Anagram and Acrostic^ with several others of a 
similar description. 

Finally, in that sea which bounds the States of Poetry , 
there is the Island of Satire^ surrounded by bitter waves. 
The salt from the water is very strong, and dark-colored. 
The greater part of the brooks of this island resemble the 
Nile in this, that their sources are unknown ; but it is par- 
ticularly remarkable that there is not one of them wiiose wa- 
ters are fresh. A part of the same sea is called the Archi- 
pelago of Trifles. The French term it VArchipel des Baga- 
telles^ and their voyagers are well acquainted with those isl- 
ands. Nature seems to have thrown them up in sport, as she 
did those of the ^gean Sea. The principal islands are the 
Madrigal^ the Song, and the Lnpromptu. No lands can be 
lighter than those islands, for they float upon the waters. — 

FONTENELLE. 

ALLUSION. 

§ 618. Allusion, from the Latin ad, and ludere, to play, 
is that figure by which some word or phrase in a sentence 
calls to mind something which is not mentioned, by means 
of some similitude. 

1. ''I was surrounded with difficulties, and possessed no 
clew by which I could effect my escape." Here the allusion 
is to Theseus in the Labyrinth of Crete, who made his escape 
by means of a cleio furnished by Ariadne. 

2. M. Robin addressed a petition to Louis XIV., requesting 
to be allowed to retain possession of a small island on the 
Bhone, of which the following is a translation : 

"■ Monarch of France ! my little Isle 
Is worthless and unfit for thee ; 
Why look for Laurels from a soil 
Which scarcely bears the Willow-tree." 

3. In recommending exercise for the cure of the spleen^ 
Green says, 

« Fling but a stone, the giant dies !" 



^06 RHETORICAL FORMS. 



ANACCENOSIS. 

§ 619. Ana(xenosis, from the Greek dvd, and Koivog, covi' 
mon, is a figure in vv^hich the speaker appeals to the judg- 
ment of his audience on the point in debate, as if they had 
feelings common with his own. 

1. " Suppose he had wronged 3'OU out of your estate, tra- 
duced your character, abused your family, and turned them 
out of your house by violence, how would you have behaved?" 

2. "He did oblige me every hour, 
Could I but faithful be 1 
He stole my heart, could I refuse 
Whate'er he asked from me V 

8. Suppose, Piso, any one had driven you from your house 
by violence, how would you have done ? — Cicero, 

ANADIPLOSIS. 

§ 620. Anadiplosis, from the Greek dvd, and dirrXoog, dou- 
bUj is the use of the same word or words in the termination 
of one clause of a sentence and at the beginning of the next 

1. '' He retained his virtues amid all his misfortunes ; mis- 
fortunes which no prudence could see or prevent." 

2. Can Parliament be so dead to their dignity and duty as 
to give their support to measures thus obtruded and forced 
opon them ; ^neasio'es, my lords, which have reduced this late 
flourishing empire to scorn and contempt? — Lord Chatham. 

3. '< Has he a gust for blood? Blood shall fill his cup." 

ANAGRAM. 

§ 621. Anagram, from the Greek dvd, and ypdjifia^'a letter, 
is the transposition of the letters of a name, by which a new 
word is formed. 

1. The words Charles James Stuart can be transposed 
into Claims Arthur'' s Seat. 

2. Astronomer s = Moon starers. 

3. Levi =vile = evil. 

anaphora. 
§ 622. Anaphora, from the Greek 'Ava<pip(x), to carry hack) 



DEFINITIONS AND EXAMPLES. 607 

is the repetition of a word at the beginning of several clauses 
of a sentence, which impresses the idea more distinctly on the 
mind. 

1. Mij daughter ! with thy name my song begun ; 
My davghter ! with thy name thus much shall end ; 
I see thee not ; I hear thee not ; but none 
Can be so rapt in thee ; thou art the Friend 
To whom the shadows of far years extend. — Byron. 

2. A man with no sense of religious duty is he whom the 
Scriptures describe in so terse but terrific a manner as "liv- 
ing without God in the world." Such a man is out of his 
proper being, out of the circle of all his duties, out of the cir- 
cle of all his happiness, and awap, far^ far away from the 
purposes of his creation. — Daniel Webster. 

3. Slave, do thine office ! 

Strike as I struck the foe ! Strike as I would 
Have struck those tyrants ! Strike deep as my curse ! 
Strike ! and but once. — Byron's Doge of Venice. 

ANTITHESIS. 

§ 623. Antithesis, Greek 'AvrldeoLg, from dvrl, and tIOtjui, 
to place, is the opposition of words and sentiments, a con- 
trast by which each of the contrasted things is rendered more 
striking. 

1. True Honor, though it be a different principle from Re- 
ligion, is that which produces the same effects. The lines 
of action, though drawn from different parts, terminate in the 
same point. Religion embraces virtue, as it is enjoined by 
the laws of God; Honor, as it is graceful and ornamental to 
human nature. The religious man fears, the man of honor 
scorns, to do an ill action. The latter considers vice as some- 
thing that is beneath him; the former, as something that is 
offensive to the Divine Being : the one, as what is unbecom- 
ing ; the other, as what is forbidden. — Guardian. 

2. A Bed is a bundle of paradoxes : we go to it with re- 
luctance, yet we quit it with regret ; w^e make up our minds 
to leave it early, but we make up our bodies every morning 
to keep it late. — Lacon. 

3. On parent knees, a naked, new-born child, 

"Weeping thou sat'st, while all around thee smiled ; 



608 RHETORICAL FORMS. 

So live, that sinking in thy last, long sleep, 

Thou then may'st smile, while all around thee weep. 

Sir W. Jones. 

4. Whether you look up to the top, or down to the bot- 
tom ; whether you mount with the froth, or sink with the sedi- 
ment, no rank in this country can support a perfectly de- 
graded name. — Sir Philip Francis. 

5. To Adam, Paradise was a home ; to the good among 
his descendants. Home is a paradise. — Hare. 

6. Wit was originally a general name for all the intel- 
lectual powers, meaning the faculty which kens, perceives, 
knows, understands; it was gradually narrowed in its sig- 
nification to express merely the resemblance between ideas; 
and, lastly, to note that resemblance when it occasioned lu- 
dicrous surprise. It marries ideas lying wide apart by a sud- 
den jerk of the understanding. Humor originally meant 
moisture, a signification it metaphorically retains, for it is the 
very juice of the mind oozing from the brain, and enriching 
and fertilizing wherever it falls. Wit exists by antipathy, 
Humor by sympathy. 

Wit laughs at things ; Humor laughs with them. Wit 
lashes external appearances, or cunningly exaggerates single 
foibles into character ; Humor glides into the heart of its ob- 
ject, looks lovingly on the infirmities it detects, and repre- 
sents the whole man. 

Wit is abrupt, darting, scornful, and tosses its analogies in 
your face ; Humor is slow and shy, insinuating its fun into 
your heart. Wit is negative, analytical, destructive; Humor 
is creative. The couplets of Pope are witty ; but Sancho 
Panza is a humorous creation. Wit, when earnest, has the 
earnestness of passion seeking to destroy ; Humor has the 
earnestness of affection, and would lift up what is seemingly 
low into our charity and love. Wit, bright, rapid, and blast- 
ing as the lightning, flashes, strikes, and vanishes in an in- 
stant ; Humor, warm and all-embracing as the sunshine, 
bathes its objects in a genial and abiding light. Wit im- 
plies hatred or contempt of folly and crime, produces its ef- 
fects by brisk shocks of surprise, uses the whip of scorpions 
and the branding-iron, stabs, stings, pinches, tortures, goads, 



DEFINITIONS AND EXAMPLES. 609 

teases, corrodes, undermines ; Humor implies a sure concep- 
tion of the beautiful, the majestic, and the true, by whose 
light it surveys and shapes their opposites. It is a humane 
influence softening with mirth the rugged inequalities of ex- 
istence, promoting tolerant views of life, bridging over the 
spaces which separate the lofty from the lowly, the great from 
the humble. Old Dr. Fuller's remark, that a negro is " the 
image of God cut in ebony," is humorous ; Horace Smith's, 
that '' the task-master is the image of the devil cut in ivory," 
is witty. — Whipple. 

ANTONOMASIA. 

§ 624. Antonomasia, from the Greek 'Avt^ ovofia, for a 
name, is a trope, by which we put a proper name for a com- 
mon name, or a common name for a proper name ; or an of- 
fice, or profession, or science instead of the true name of a 
person. 

1. If plagues or earthquakes break not Heaven's design, 
Why then a Borgia or a Catiline 1 — Pope. 

2. Galileo, the Columbus of the heavens. 

3. The Niohe of nations, there she stands, 

Childless and crownless, in her voiceless woe ; 
An empty urn within her withered hands. 
Whose holy dust was scattered long ago. — Byron. 

4. Some village Hamden, that with dauntless breast 

The little tyrant of his fields withstood ; 
Some mute, inglorious Milton here may rest, 

Some Cromwell, guiltless of his country's blood. — Gray. 

APOLOGUE OR FABLE. 

§ 625. Apologue, Greek aixoXoyo^, is a short, fictitious 
story, founded frequently on supposed actions of brutes or in- 
animate things, and is not supported by probability. 

A Dog, crossing a little rivulet with a piece of flesh in his 
mouth, saw his own Shadow represented in the clear mirror 
of the limpid stream, and believing it to be another Dog, 
who was carrying another piece of flesh, he could not forbear 
catching at it, but was so far from getting any thing by his 
greedy design, that he dropped the piece he had in his mouth, 



610 RHETORICAL FORMS. 

which immediately sunk to the bottom, and was irrecoverably 
lost. — ^SOP. 

Application. 
He that catches at more than belongs to him, justly de- 
serves to lose what he has. 

APOSIOPESIS. 

§ 626. Aposiopesis, from the Greek dnoaionrjaig, a retain- 
ing or suppression^ is leaving a sentence unfinished, in con- 
sequence of some sudden emotion of the mind. A speaker 
may thus aggravate what he pretends to conceal, by uttering 
a part, and leaving the remainder to be understood. 

1. The statesman is the leader of a nation, the warrior is 
the grace of an age, the philosopher is the birth of a thousand 
years ; but the lover — where is he not ? — Deerbrook. 

2. I can tell him, sir, that Massachusetts and her people, 
of all people, of all classes, hold him, and his love, and his 
veneration, and his speeches, and his principles, and his stand- 
ard of truth in utter — what shall I say ? — any thing but re- 
spect. — D. Webster. 

3. No sooner had the Almighty ceased, but all 
The multitude of angels, with a shout 
Loud as from numbers without number, sweet 
As from blest voices uttering joy — heaven rang 
With jubilee, and loud hosannas filled 
The eternal regions. — Milton. 

apostrophe. 

§ 627. Apostrophe, Greek ano^from^ and GTpo(f)rjj a turn- 
ing, a digressive address, is a figure by which the speaker 
turns the current of his discourse, and addresses some person 
or some object different from that to which his discourse had 
"been directed. 

1. O ye judges ! it was not by human counsel, nor by any 
thing less than the immediate care of the immortal Gods, that 
this event has taken place. The very Divinities themselves, 
who beheld that monster fall, seemed to be moved, and to have 
inflicted their vengeance upon him. I appeal to, I call to wit- 
ness you, oh ye hills and groves of Alba! you, the demolished 
Alban altars ! ever accounted holy by the Romans, and co- 



DEFINITIONS AND EXAMPLES. QH 

eval with our religion, but which Clodius, in his mad fury, 
having first cut down and leveled the most sacred groves, had 
sunk under heaps of common buildings ; I appeal to you, I 
call you to witness, whether your altars, your divinities, your 
powers, which he had polluted with all kinds of wickedness, 
did not avenge themselves when this wretch was extirpated ? 
And thou, O holy Jupiter ! from the height of thy sacred 
mount, whose lakes, groves, and boundaries he had so often 
contaminated with his detestable impurities ; and you, the 
other deities, whom he had insulted, at length opened your 
eyes to punish this enormous offender. By you, by you and 
in your sight, was the slow, but the righteous and merited 
vengeance executed upon him.— Cicero. 

2. Ye toppling crags of ice ! 

Ye avalanches, whom a breath draws down 
In mountainous overwhelming, come and crush me f 
I hear ye momently above, beneath. 
Crash with a frequent conflict ; but ye pass, 
And only fall on things that still would live ; 
On the young flourishing forest, or the hut 
And hamlet of the harmless villager. — Byron. 

CATACHRESIS. 

§ 628. Catachresis, from the Greek Kardxp'Tjaig, is an 
abuse of a trope, by which a word is wrested from its orig- 
inal application, and made to express something at variance 
with its true meaning. 

1. ii An iron C3ind\estick ;^^ <' a. glass ink-horn.^^ 

2. Attempered to the lyre your voice employ, 

Such the pleased ear will drink with silent joy. — Pope.. 

3. How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank ; 
Here will we sit, and let the sounds of music 
Creep in our ears. — Shakspeare. 

4. And pity, like a naked new-born babe. 
Striding the blast, as heaven's Cherubim horsed 
Upon the sightless couriers of the air. 

Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye, 
That tears shall drown the wind. — Macbeth. 

5. "Man's heart eats all things, and is hungry still." 

6. "Her voice was but the shadow of a sounds 



63.2 RHETORICAL FORMS. 



CLIMAX. 

§ 629. Climax, from the Greek icXlfia^, a ladder, is the 
ascent of a subject, step by step, from a lower to a higher in- 
terest. 

1. We feel the strength of mind through the beauty of the 
style ; we discern the man in the author, the nation in the 
man, and the universe at the feet of the nation. — Madame 
DE Stael. 

2. I impeach thee, Warren Hastings, of high crimes and 
misdemeanors. I impeach him in the name of the Commons 
and House of Parliament, whose trust he has betrayed. I 
impeach him in the name of the English nation, whose an- 
cient honor he has sullied. I impeach him in the name of 
the people of India, whose rights he has trodden under foot, 
and whose country he has turned into a desert. Lastly, in 
the name of human nature itself, in the name of both sexes, 
in the name of every age, in the name of every rank, I im- 
peach the common enemy and oppressor of all. — Burke. 

3. In my affection to my country you find me ever firm 
and invariable. Not the solemn demand of my person, not 
the vengeance of the Amphictyonio council, not the terror of 
their threatenings, not the flattery of their promises ; no, nor 
the fury of those accursed wretches, whom they roused like 
wild beasts against me, could tear this affection from my 
breast. — Demosthenes. 

4. What a piece of work is man ! how noble in reason ! 
how infinite in faculties ! ih form and moving, how express 
and admirable ! in action, how like an Angel ! in apprehen- 
sion, how like a God ! — Hamlet. 

ANTI-CLIMAX. 

§ 630. Anti-climax, the opposite of climax, is a descent 
from great things to small ; a sentence or paragraph in which 
the ideas descend and become less important and striking at 
the close than at the commencement. 

1. <«Who murder our wives and children, plunder our 
dwellings, steal our sheep, and rob our potato-patches." 
3. Die, and endow a college or a cat. — Pope. 



DEFINITIONS AND EXAMPLES. (513 

3. " Under the tropic is our language spoke, 

And part of Flanders has received our yoke." 

ECPHONESIS OR EXCLAMATION. 

§ 631. EcpHONESis, Greek eK(l)(ovrioig, is an animated or 
passionate exclamation, and is generally indicated by such 
interjections as O! oh! ah J alas! 
1. my soul's joy, 

If after every tempest come such calms, 
May the winds blow till they have wakened death ! — Othello. 

2. Oh mournful day to the Senate and all good men ! ca- 
lamitous to the Senate, afflictive to me and my family, but to 
posterity glorious and worthy of admiration ! — Cic. pro Sext, 

3. Oh the great and mighty force of truth, which so easily 
supports itself against all the wit, craft, subtlety, and artful 
designs of men !: — Cicero pro Ccelius. 

ENIGMA. 

§ 632. Enigma, from the Greek word dcviyfia, from dtVLa- 
ooiiaiy to hint^ a dark saying in which some known thing 
is concealed under obscure language ; an obscure question ; 
a riddle. 

1. " What creature is that which walks upon four legs in 
the morning, two at noon, and upon three at night ?" Man, 
This is the famous riddle of the sphinx. 

2. 'Twas whispered in heaven, 'twas muttered in hell, 
And echo caught faintly the sound as it fell ; 
On the confines of earth 'twas permitted to rest. 
And the depths of the ocean its presence confessed. 
'Twill be found in the sphere when 'tis riven asunder, 
Be seen in the lightning and heard in the thunder. 
'Twas allotted to man with his earliest breath, 
^ Attends at his birth, and awaits him in death ; 
It presides o'er his happiness, honor, and health, 
Is the prop of his house, and the end of his wealth : 
Without it the soldier, the seaman may roam. 
But woe to the wretch who expels it from home. ; 

In the whispers of conscience its voice will be found, 
Nor e'en in the whirlwind of passion be drown'd : 
r 'Twill soften the heart, and though deaf to the ear, 
'Twill make it acutely and instantly hear. 
But in shade let it rest like a delicate flower, 
Oh breathe on it softly, it dies in an hour. — Byron. 

The letter H. 



(514 RHETORICAL FORMS. 



EPANALEPSIS. 

§ 633. Epanalepsis, Greek enavd^iptg, repetition, is a fig- 
ure by which a sentence ends with the same word with 
which it begins. 

1. Fare thee well, and if forever, 
I Still forever fare thee ivell ; 

Even though unforgiving, never 

'Gainst thee shall my heart rebel. — Byron to his wife. 

3. " Langsyne ! with thee resides a spell 
To raise the spirit and refine. 
Farewell ! there can be no farewell 
To thee, loved, lost Langsyne.'' 

8. " A voice o'er all the waste and prostrate isle 
Wandereth, a valiant voice." 

EPANORTHOSIS. 

§ 634. Epanorthosis, Greek snavopOoatg, correction, is a 
figure by which a speaker retracts or recalls what he has 
spoken, in order to substitute something stronger or more 
suitable in its place. The attention of the auditor is roused, 
and a stronger impression is thus produced upon his mind to 
what is thus substituted. 

1. Can you be ignorant, among the conversation of this 
city, what laws — if they are to be called laws, and not the 
fire-brands of Rome and the plagues of the commonwealth 
— ^this Clodius designed to fix upon us ? 

2. "Why should I speak of his neglect — neglect did I 
say? call it rather contempt.''^ , 

EPIZEUXIS. 

§ 635. Epizeuxis, from the Greek enl^ev^ig, Joining to, is 
rejoining or repeating the same word or words emphatically. 

1. " Restore him, restore him if you can, from the dead." 

2. The Isles of Greece, the Isles of Greece, 
Where burning Sappho loved and sung, 
Where grew the arts of war and peace, 
Where Delos rose and Phcebus sprung — 
Eternal summer gilds them yet, 

But all except their sun is set. — Byron. 



DEFINITIONS AND EXAMPLES. Ql§ 

O thou queen ! 
Thou delegated Deity of Earth ; 
O dear, dear England ! how my longing eyes 
Turned, shaping in the steady clouds 
Thy sands and high white cliffs. — Coleridge. 

EROTESIS OR INTERROGATION. 

§ 636. Erotesis, Greek epcoTTjoig, is an animated or pas- 
sionate Interrogation. 

1. What, Tubero, did that naked sword of yours mean in 
the battle of Pharsalia ? At whose breast was its point aimed ? 
What was then the meaning of your arms, your spirit, your 
eyes, your hands, your ardor of soul ? What did you desire, 
what wish for ? I press the youth too much ; he seems dis- 
turbed. Let me return to myself. I too bore arms on the 
same side. — Cicero /or Ligarius. 

2. What is there in these days that you have not attempt- 
ed ? what have you not profaned ? What name shall I 
give to this assembly ? Shall I call you soldiers ? you who 
have besieged with your arms and surrounded with a trench 
the son of your Emperor ? Shall I call you citizens ? you 
who have so shamefully trampled on the authority of the 
Senate ? you who have violated the justice due to enemies, 
the sanctity of embassy, and the rights of nations ? — Tacitus, 
Annals, b. i. 

euphemism. 

§ 637. Euphemism, Greek evcprjiiiGiiog, sv, well, <Pwh ^^ 
speak, a figure by which a harsh or offensive word is set 
aside, and one that is delicate substituted in its place. 

1. Worn out with anguish, toil, and cold and hunger, 
Down sunk the wanderer ; sleep had seized her senses. 
There did the traveler find her in the morning : 
God had released her. — Southey. 

, 2. *' That merchant prince has stopped payment." 

hyperbole. 

§ 638. Hyperbole, Greek vnep6oXrj, excess, is a figure by 
which much more is expressed than the truth. In Hyperbole 
the exaggeration is so great that it can not be expected to be 



516 RHETORICAL FORMS. 

believed by the reader or the hearer. It is usually the off- 
spring of a momentary conviction produced by sudden sur- 
prise on the part of the speaker and writer. 

1. He told us that a part of the road from Salinas, in 
Persia, to Julamerk, was so frightful to travel, that a fat, 
spirited horse would in a single day suffer so much from 
terror that before night he would be as thin as a knife-blade. 
— Dr. Grant's Nestorians. 

2. The universal host upsent 

A shout that tore Hell's concave, and beyond 
Frighted the reign of Chaos and old night. — Milton. . 

3. An Elm is 

A Forest waving on a single tree. — Holmes. 

4. Camilla 
Outstripped the winds with speed upon the plain, 
Flew o'er the field, nor hurt the bearded grain ; 
She swept the seas, and, as she skimmed along, 

Her flying foot unbathed in billows hung." — Dryden, Mn., b. vii. 

HYPOTYPOSIS. 

§ 639. Hypotyposis, from the Greek vnorvncjaig, under an 
image. A description of a thing in strong and lively colors, 
so that the past, the distant, and the future are represented as 
present. It is sometimes called vision. 

1. Is this a dagger which I see before me^ 
The handle toward my hand 1 come, let 
Me clutch thee ! — Macbeth. 

2. Even now the devastation is begun, 

And half the business of destruction done ; 

Even now, methinks, as pondering here I stEind, 

/ see the rural virtues leave the land, 

Down where yon anchoring vessel spreads the sail. 

That idly waiting, flaps with every gale. 

Downward they move a melancholy band, 

Pass from the shore, and darken all the land ; 

Contented toil, and hospitable care, 

And kind connubial tenderness are there. — Goldsmith. 

3. I seem to myself to behold this city, the ornament of 
the earth and the capital of all nations, suddenly involved 
in one conflagration. I see before me the slaughtered heaps 
of citizens, lying unburied in the midst of their ruined coun- 



DEFINITIONS AND EXAMPLES. g ;[ 7 

try. The furious countenance of Cethegus rises to my view, 
while with a savage joy he is triumphing in your miseries. 
— Cicero. 

4. Greece cries to us by the convulsed lips of her poisoned 
dying Demosthenes ; and Rome pleads with us in the mute 
persuasion of her mangled TuUy. — E. Everett. 

5. I see before me the Gladiator lie : 

He leans upon his hand ; his manly brow 
Consents to death, but conquers agony, 

And his drooped head sinks gradually low ; 
And through his side the last drops ebbing flow 

From the red gash, fall heavy, one by one, 
Like the first of a thunder-shower ; and now 
The arena swims around him — he is gone, 
Ere ceased the inhuman shout which hailed the wretch who won. 

He heard it, but he heeded not : his eyes 

Were with his heart, and that was far away ; 
He recked not of the life he lost, nor prize, 

But where his rude hut by the Danube lay, 
There were his young barbarians all at play, 

There was their Dacian mother — he, their sire, 
Butchered to make a Roman holiday ! 

All this rushed with his blood. Shall he expire, 
And unavenged ■? Arise ! ye Goths, and glut your ire ! — Bykon. 

IRONY. 

§ 640. Irony, from the Greek Elpcjvla, from slpoiv, a dis- 
sembler in speech^ is a mode of speech expressing a sense con- 
trary to that which the speaker intends to convey. 

1. And it came to pass at noon that Elijah mocked them, 
and said, " Cry aloud ; for he is a God : either he is talking, 
or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he 
sleepeth, and must be awaked." — -1 Kings, xviii., 27. 

2. The persons who have suffered from the cannibal phi- 
losophy of France are so like the Duke of Bedford, that noth- 
ing but his Grace's not probably speaking so good French 
could enable us to find out any difference. A great many 
of them had as pompous titles, and were of full as illustrious 
a race ; some few of them had fortunes as ample ; several of 
them, without meaning the least disparagement to the Duke 
of Bedford, were as wise, and as virtuous, and as valiant, and 
as well educated, and as complete in all the lineaments of 



618 RHETORICAL FORMS. 

men of honor as he is. And to all this they had added the 
powerful outguard of a military profession, which in its na- 
ture renders men somewhat more cautious than those who 
have nothing to attend to but the lazy enjoyment of undis- 
turbed possessions. But security was their ruin. They are 
dashed to pieces in the storm, and our shores are covered with 
the wrecks. — Burke. 

3. Delightful Bowles, still blessing, and stiU bless'd, 
All like thy strain ; but children like it best. 
Now to soft themes thou seemest to confine 
The lofty numbers of a harp like thine, 
Awake a louder and a louder strain, 
Such as none heard before, or will again ! 
Where all discoveries jumbled from the flood, 
Since first the leaky ark reposed in mud, 
By more or less are sung in every book, 
From Captain Noah down to Captain Coolc ; 
Bowles, in thy memory let this precept dwell. 
Stick to thy sonnets, man — at least they sell. — Byron. 

LITOTES. 

§ 641. Litotes, Greek Xirog, slender, is diminution, a fig- 
nre in which, by denying the contrary, more is intended than 
is expressed ; as, " The man is no fool," that is, he is wise. 

1. To thee I call, but with no friendly voice. 
And add thy name, O Sun, to tell thee how 
I hate thy beams. — Milton. 

2. One of the few the immortal names 
That were not born to die. — Halleck. 

METALEPSIS. 

§ 642. Metalepsis, from the Greek iisTaXTjipig, participa* 
Hon, is the continuation of a trope in one word through a 
succession of significations, or it is the union of two or more 
tropes in one word. 

1. ''Napoleon was living" = Napoleon is dead. 

2. " Fuit Illium et ingens gloria Dardanidum" = Troy 
and the glory of the Trojans is no more. 

METAPHOR. 

§ 643. Metaphor, from the Greek fieracfyopa, a transfer- 
ring', is the use of a word in a sense which is beyond its 



DEFINITIONS AND EXAMPLES. QlQ 

original meaning. It is the transferring of a word from the 
object to which it properly belongs, and applying it to an- 
other to which that object bears some resemblance or analogy. 
It shows similitude without the sign of comparison. 

1. The moral and political system of Hobbes was a palace 
of ice ; transparent, exactly proportioned, majestic, admired by 
the unwary as a delightful dwelling ; but gradually under- 
mined by the central warmth of human feeling, before it was 
thawed into muddy water by the sunshine of true Philoso- 
phy. — Sir James MacIntosh. 

2. The Gospel, formerly a Forester, now became a Citi- 
zen ; and leaving the woods wherein it wandered, the hills 
and holes wherein it hid itself before, dwelt quietly in popu- 
lous places. — Fuller's Church History, p. 23. 

3. Burke thus describes the fall from power of Lord Chat- 
ham, and the rise of Charles Townsend : 

Even then, before this splendid orb was entirely set, and 
while the western horizon was in a blaze with his descending 
glory, on the opposite quarter of the heavens arose another 
luminary, and for his hour became Lord of the ascendant. 

4. Short-lived, indeed, was Irish Independence. I sat by 
her cradle ; I followed her hearse. — Grattan. 

5. There is no such thing as happiness in this world. The 
sole distinction is, that the life of a happy man is a picture, 
with a silver ground studded with stars of jet ; while, on the 
other hand, the life of a miserable man is a dark ground with 
a few stars of silver. — Napoleon. 

METONYMY. 

§ 644. Metonymy, from Greek [leTQvvfiia, a change of 
name, is a figure by which one word is put for another ; as 
the cause for the effect, or the effect for the cause ; the con- 
tainer for the contained ; the sign for the thing signified. The 
relation is always that of causes, effects, or adjuncts. 

1. Substituting the cause for the effect : 

A, time there was, ere England's Griefs began, 

"When every rooi of ground maintained its man. — Goldsmith. 

2. Substituting the effect for the cause : 

Can gray hairs make folly venerable ? — Junius. 



620 RHETORICAL FORMS. 

3. Substituting the container for the contained: 

<' The Toper loves his bottled The Highwayman says, 
"Your Purse or your life !" 

4. Substituting the sign for the thing signified: 
<' He carried away the palmP 

5. Substituting the abstract for the concrete term : 

We wish that Labor may look up here, and be proud in 
the midst of its toil. We wish that Infancy may learn the 
purpose of its creation from maternal lips ; and that weary 
and withered Age may behold and be solaced by the recollec- 
tions which it suggests. — Daniel Webster. 

6. There Honor comes, a pilgrim Gray, 
To deck the turf that wraps their clay ; 
And Freedom shall a while repair 
To dwell a weeping hermit there. — Collins. 

PARABLE. 

§ 645. Parable, Greek 7rapa6oA^, from 'jTapa6a?iA0), to com- 
pare, is an Allegorical representation or relation of something 
real in life or nature, from which a moral is drawn. See 
the Parable of the Poor Man and his Lamb, 2 Sam., xii. ; 
ihe Parable of the Ten Virgins, Matt., xxv. 

PARALEIPSIS. 

§ 646. Paraleipsis, Greek -napaXeiipig, omission, is a figure 
by which a speaker pretends to pass by what at the same 
time he really mentions. 

1. *' I might say many things of his liberality, kindness to 
his domestics, his command in the army, and moderation 
during his office in the province ; but the honor of the state 
presents itself to my view, and, calling me to it, advises me 
to omit these lesser matters." 

2. «' I do not speak of my adversary's scandalous venality 
and rapacity ; I take no notice of his brutal conduct ; I do 
not speak of his treachery and malice." 

PARONOMASIA. 

§ 647. Paronomasia, from the Greek Trapd, near, ana bvojia, 
a name, is a pun or a play upon words, in which the same 



DEFINITIONS AND EXAMPLES. 621 

word is used in different senses, or words similar in sound are 
set in opposition to each other. 

1. '« Voltaire had a stupid, fat Friar at Ferney, who was 
useful to him, and who went by the name of Pere Adam, Fa- 
ther Adam. A Gentleman who was visiting there, happening 
to get a glimpse of this inmate, asked Voltaire if that was 
Father Adam. ' Yes,' replied Voltaire, ' that is Father 
Adam, but not the first of men!' " 

2. " Mr. Curran, the late celebrated Irish Advocate, was 
walking one day with a friend who was extremely punctilious 
in his conversation. Hearing a person near him say curosity 
instead of curiosity, he exclaimed, ' How that man murders 
the English Language !' < Not so bad,' said Curran ; < he has 
only knocked an i out.' " 

PROSOPOPCEIA OR PERSONIFICATION. 

§ 648. Prosopopceia, from the Greek Trpoaonov, a 'person, 
and TTOieo), I make, is a figure by which the absent are intro- 
duced as present, and by which inanimate objects and ab- 
stract ideas are represesented as living. 

1. O Winter! ruler of the inverted year, 

Thy scattered hair with sleet like ashes filled ; 

Thy breath congealed upon thy lips ; thy cheeks 

Fringed with a beard made white with other snows 

Than those of age ; thy forehead wrapped in clouds ; 

A leafless branch thy scepter ; and thy throne 

A sliding car indebted to no wheels, 

But urged by storms along its slippery way : 

I love thee ! all unlovely as thou seem'st, 

And dreaded as thou art!— CowPER. 

2. Ha ! comest thou now so late to mock 

A wanderer's banished heart forlorn % 
Now that his frame the lightning shock, 

Of sun's rays tipt with death, has borne \ 
From love, from friendship, country torn. 

To memory's fond regrets a prey ; 
Vile slave ! thy yellow dross I scorn ! 

Go mix thee with thy kindred clay ! — Leyden. 

3. His was the spell o'er hearts 
That, only acting, lends 
The youngest of the sister arts, 
Where all their beauty blends ; 



622 RHETORICAL FORMS. 

For Poetry can ill express 

Full many a tone of thought sublime ; 
And Painting, mute and motionless, 

Steals but one partial glance from time : 
^ But by the mighty actors brought, 

Illusion's wedded triumphs come ; 
Verse ceases to be airy thought, 

And Sculpture to be dumb. — Campbell. 

4. How sleep the brave, who sink to rest 
By all their country's wishes bless'd ; 
When Spring, with dewy fingers cold, 
Returns to deck their hallowed mold : 
She there shall dress a sweeter sod 
Than Fancy's feet have ever trod. — Collins. 

PROVERB. 

§ 649. Proverb, Latin prov erbium, a short sentence, ex- 
pressing a well-known truth or common fact ascertained by 
experience or observation ; a maxim of wisdom. 

«' Out of sight out of mind." 

repartee. 

§ 650. Repartee, French repartie, a smart, witty reply. 

*' Said a would-be agreeable, taking his seat between 
Madame de Stael and the reigning beauty of the day, ' How 
happy I am to be thus seated between a wit and a beauty.' 
« Yes,' replied Madame de Stael, ' and without possessing 
either !' " 

SARCASM. 

§ 651. Sarcasm, from the Greek oapKaafiog, from (rap/ca^w, 
to sneer at or deride, primarily to flay or pluck off the skin, 
is a keen, reproachful expression, uttered with scorn or con- 
tempt. It is sometimes bitter, biting irony. 

1. My Lord, — The profound respect I bear to the gracious 
prince who governs this country with no less honor to him- 
self than satisfaction to his subjects, and who restores you to 
your rank under his standard, will save you from a multitude 
of reproaches. The attentions I should have paid to your 
failings is involuntarily attracted to the hand that rewards 
them ; and though I am not so partial to the royal judgment 



DEFINITIONS AND EXAMPLES. (3 2 3 

as to affirm that the King can remove mountains of infamy, 
it serves at least to lessen, for undoubtedly it divides the bur- 
den. While I remember how much is due to his sacred char- 
acter, I can not, with any decent appearance of propriety, call 
you the meanest and basest fellow in the kingdom. I pro- 
test, my Lord, I do not think so. You will have a danger- 
ous rival in that kind of fame to which you have hitherto so 
happily directed your ambition, as long as there is one man 
living who thinks you worthy of his confidence, and fit to be 
trusted with any share in his government. I confess you 
have great intrinsic merit ; but take care you do not value it 
too highly. Consider how much of it would have been lost 
to the world, if the King had not graciously affixed his royal 
stamp and given it currency among his subjects. If it be 
true that a virtuous man struggling with adversity be a scene 
worthy of the Gods, the glorious contest between you and 
the best of princes deserves a circle equally attentive and re- 
spectable. I think I see already other Gods rising from be- 
neath to behold it. — Junius. 

2. Sir Philip Francis, after his return to Parliament, 1784, 
gave great offense to Mr. Pitt, by exclaiming, after he had 
pronounced an animated Eulogy on Lord Chatham, ^' But 
he is dead, and has left nothing in this world that resembles 
him." 

SIMILE. 

§ 652. Simile, from the Latin similis, like, is a compari- 
son expressed in form, and is founded on resemblance. 

1. The ship kept on away up the river, lessening and less- 
ening in the waning sunshine, like a little white cloud melt^ 
ing away in the summer sky. — W. Irving. 

2. '' Like the Aurora Borealis of their native sky, the poets 
and historians of Iceland not only illuminated their own coun- 
try, but flashed the light of their genius through the night 
which hung over the rest of Europe." 

3. The noon-day sun came slanting down the rocky slopes 
of La Riccia, and its masses of entangled and tall foliage, 
whose autumnal tints were mixed with the wet verdure of a 
thousand evergreens, were penetrated with it as with rain. 



624 RHETORICAL FORMS. 

I can not call it color ; it was conflagration. Purple, and 
crimson, and scarlet, like the curtains of God's Tabernacle, the 
rejoicing trees sank into the valley in showers of light, every 
separate leaf quivering with buoyant and burning life ; each, 
as it turned to reflect or to transmit the sunbeam, first a torch 
and then an emerald ! Far up into the recesses of the val- 
ley, the green vistas arched like the hollows of mighty waves 
of some crystalline sea, with the arbutus flowers dashed along 
their flanks for foam, and silver flakes of orange spray tossed 
into the air around them, breaking over the gray wall of rocks 
into a thousand separate stars, fading and kindling alternately 
as the weak wind lifted and let them fall. Every glade of 
grass burned like the golden floor of heaven, opening in sud- 
den gleams as the foliage broke and closed above it, as sheet 
lightning opens in a cloud at sunset ! — Modern Painters. 

4. The poems of Byron are as the scenes of a summer 
evening, where all is tender, and grand, and beautiful ; but 
the damps of disease descend with the dews of heaven, and 
the pestilent vapors of night are breathed in with the fra- 
grance and the balm, and the delicate and the fair are the 
surest victims of the exposure. — Professor Frisbie. 

SYLLEPSIS. 

§ 653. Syllepsis, from the Greek avXXrjipig, taken tog-ether, 
is a trope by which a word is taken in two senses, the literal 
and the metaphorical : when we conceive the sense of the 
words to be otherwise than what the words impart, and con- 
strue them according to the sense of the writer. 

1. Lie heavy on him, Earth, for he 

Laid many a heavy load on thee. — Epitaph on a had Architect. 

2. "And hope shall revive again, and brighter and warmer 
than the beams of the morning sun, shall illumine and invig- 
orate his dark soul." 

3. Perchance she died m youth ; it may be, bowed 
With woes far heavier than the ponderous tomb 
That weighed upon her gentle dust. — Byron. 

4. Beautiful as the whole country had been, I found noth- 
ing equal to the two hours before entering Nicaragua. — J. L. 
Stephens. 



EXERCISES IN FIGURES CF SPEECH. 625 



SYNECDOCHE. 

§ 654. Synecdoche, from the Greek word avveKSoxrj, a tak- 
ing" together, is a trope by which the whole of a thing is put 
for a part, or a part for the whole ; as a species for a genus, 
or a genus for a species. It comprehends more or less in 
the expression than the word which is employed literally sig- 
nifies. 

1. A sail! a sail! a promised prize to hope, 

lier nation's Flag — how speaks the Telescope 1 
No prize, alas ! but yet a welcome sail. — Byron. 

Here we have a part for the whole. 

2. Belinda smiled, and all the world was gay. — Pope. 

Here we have the whole for a part. 

3. I attest heaven and earth, that in all places and at all 
times I have steadfastly shoved aside the gilded hand of cor- 
ruption, and endeavored to stem the tide which threatened to 
overwhelm this Island. — Burke. 

4. '« The Lord Chancellor waited on his majesty, and re- 
signed the Seals." 

5. " The Governor came forth and delivered up the keys 
of the fort to the conqueror." 



CHAPTER III. 

EXERCISES IN THE RHETORICAL FORMS CALLED 
FIGURES OF SPEECH. 

§ 655. Name the principal Figure in each of the follow- 
ing examples, and give the definition. Name the subordinate 
figures, and give the definition of each. Thus, in the first 
example, the principal figure is Anaphora, '< which is the rep- 
etition of a word at the beginning of several clauses of a sen- 
tence." Besides this, there is an Apostrophe in several lines. 
Perhaps some would consider this as the principal figure. 

Rr 



026 RHETORICAL FORMS. 

^'Apostrophe is a figure by which the speaker turns the cur- 
rent of his discourse, and addresses some person or some ob- 
ject different from that to which his discourse had been di- 
rected." In this case the objects are personified. In the ex- 
pression ^^ arrows of the clouds," we have a Metaphor " which 
shows similitude without the sign of comparison." 

1. Ye living flowers, that skirt the eternal frost ! 
Ye wild goats, sporting round the eagle's nest ! 
Ye eagles, playmates of the mountain storm ! 
Ye lightnings, the dread arrows of the clouds ! 
Ye signs and wonders of the elements ! 

Utter forth God, and fill the hills with praise ! — Coleridge. 

2. A mirthful man he was ; the snows of age 

Fell, but they did not chill him. Gayety, 

Even in life's closing, touched his teeming brain 

With such wild visions as the setting sun 

Raises in front of some hoar Glacier, 

Painting the bleak ice with a thousand hues. — Scott. 

3. Talent convinces ; Genius but excites : 

This tasks the reason ; that the soul delights. ^ 

Talent from sober judgment takes its birth. 

And reconciles the pinion to the earth ; 

Genius unsettles with desires the mind, 

Contented not till earth be left behind. 

Talent, the sunshine on a cultured soil, 

Ripens the fruit by slow degrees for toil ; 

Genius, the sudden Iris of the skies, 

On cloud itself reflects its wondrous dyes, 

And to the earth in tears and glory given. 

Clasps in its airy arch the pomp of heaven ! — Bulwer. 

4. The traitor lives ! Lives ! did I say ? He mixes with 
the Senate ; he shares in our counsels ; with a steady eye 
he surveys us ; he anticipates his guilt ; he enjoys his mur- 
derous thoughts, and coolly marks us out for bloodshed. — 
Cicero. 

5, To fall asleep in this benighted w^orld, 

And in an instant wake in realms of day. — ^Wilcox. 

6. She repeats the Creed in dying, and, like other Mus- 
sulmans, says, " In this faith I have lived, in this faith I 
die, and in this faith I hope to rise again." — Bishop South- 
gate. 

7. I do not attack him from love of glory, but from love 



EXERCISES IN FIGURES OF SPEECH. 027 

of utility : as a burgomaster hunts a rat in a Dutch dike, 
for fear it should flood a province.— Eev. Sidney Smith. 

8. Of Chalmers, Canning said, «'The tartan beats us; we 
have no preaching like that in England." 

9. Private credit is wealth ; public honor is security. The 
feather that adorns the royal bird supports his flight : strip 
him of his plumage, and you fix him to the earth.— Junius, 

10. The chariot ! the chariot ! its wheels roll on fire ! 

As the Lord Cometh down in the pomp of his ire : ^ 

Self-moving it drives on its pathway of cloud, 

And the heavens with the burden of Godhead are bowed ! 

MiLMAN. 

11. Is the sable warrior fled ■? 

Thy son is gone. He rests among the dead. 
The swarm that in thy noontide beam was born 1 
Gone to salute the rising morn. 
Fair laughs the morn, and soft the zephyr blows, 

While proudly rising o'er the azure realm, 
In gallant trim the gilded vessel goes : 

Youth on the prow, and Pleasure at the helm ; 
Regardless of the sweeping whirlwind's sway, 
That, hushed in grim repose, expects his evening prey.— Gray. 

12. He loved his friends with such a warmth of heart, 
So clear of interest, so devoid of art ; 

Such generous friendship, such unshaken zeal, 

No words can speak it, but our tears can tell. 

O candid truth ! of faith without a stain ; 

O manners ! gently fair and nobly plain ; 

O sympathizing love of others' bliss ! 

Where will you find another breast like his 1 — Lord Lyttelton. 

13. "An ambition to have a place in the registers of fame, 
is the Eurystheus which imposes heroic labors on mankind.'' 

14. " Conscience, good my lord, is but the pulse of rea- 
son." 

15. *' I move that the Committee be full." 

" I would modify the Gentleman's motion by moving that 
the Chair be added to the Committee." 

16. Yon row of visionary pines ! 

By twilight glimpse discovered ! Mark ! how they flee 
From the fierce sea-blast, all their tresses wild ' 

Streaming before them ! — WoRDswoRxit. 

17. "A blind man is necessarily a man of much feeling ; 
his progress through life is touching in the extreme." 



628 RHETORICAL FORMS. 

18. «' What an awful thing it must be for a man to lie at 
the point of death." 

19. I see a voice ; now will I to the chinks to 

Spy an I can hear my Thisbe's face. — Shakspeake. 

20. Between two dogs, which flies the higher pitch ; 
Between two dogs, which hath the deeper mouth ; 
Between two blades, which bears the better temper ; 
Between two horses, which doth bear him best ; 
Between two girls, which hath the merriest eye ; 

I have, perhaps, some shallow spirit of judgment ; 

But in these nice, sharp quillets of fhe law, 

Good faith ! I am no wiser than a daw. — King Henry VL 

21. Farewell ! farewell ! until Pity's sweet fountain 

Is lost in the hearts of the fair and the brave. 
They'll weep for the chieftain who died on that mountain, 

They'll weep for the maiden who sleeps in this wave. — LallahRookh. 

22. While stands the Coliseum, Rome shall stand ; 
When falls the Coliseum, Rome shall fall ; 
And when Rome falls — the world ! — Byron. 

23. Hear me, my mother Earth ! Behold it. Heaven ! 

Have I not had to wrestle with my lot 1 
, Have I not suffered things to be forgiven 1 
Have I not had my brain seared, my heart riven, 

Hopes sapp'd, name blighted, life's life lied away"? 
And only not to desperation driven. 
Because not altogether of such clay 
As rots into the seuls of those whom I survey. — Byron. 

24. " Grant me one leaf of Daphne's deathless plant, 

Nor let thy votary's hope be deemed an idle vaunt." 

25. Do you not imagine that Themistocles also, and those 
who fell at Marathon and at Platea, and the very tombs of 
our ancestors, will raise a groan, if this man, who, avowedly 
siding with barbarians, opposed the Greeks, shall be crown- 
ed ? ^SCHINES. 

26. I then — I call you witness, ye earth and sun ! and vir- 
tue, and intellect, and education, by which we distinguish 
what is honorable from what is base — have given my help 
and have spoken ; and if I have conducted the accusation ade- 
quately, and in a manner worthy of the transgression of the 
laws, I have spoken as I wished ; if imperfectly, then only 
as I have been able. But do you, both from what has been 



EXERCISES IN FIGURES OF SPEECH. 629 

said and what has been omitted, of yourselves, decide as is 
just and convenient on behalf of the country. — ^schines. 

27. But it can not be ! No, my countrymen I it can not 
be you have acted wrong in encountering danger bravely for 
the liberty and safety of all Greece. No ! by those generous 
souls of ancient times who were exposed at Marathon ! By 
those who stood arrayed at Platea I By those who encoun- 
tered the Persian fleet at Salamis I who fought at Artemisium ! 
No ! by all illustrious sons of Athens, whose remains lie de- 
posited in the public monuments ! — Demosthenes. 

28. Slave of the dark and dirty mine ! 

What vanity has brought thee here 1 
How can I love to see thee shine 

So bright, M^hom I have bought so dear'? 
The tent ropes flapping lone I hear, 

For twilight converse arm in arm ; 
The jackal's shriek bursts on my ear, 

When mirth and music wont to cheer. — Leyden. 

29. Every good and every perfect gift is from above, and 
Cometh from the Father of light, with whom there is no va- 
riableness nor shadow of turning." — New Testament. 

30. I burn ! I burn ! as when through ripened corn, 
By driving winds the spreading flames are borne ! 
Phaon to JEtna's scorching fields retires, 

While I consume with more than ^Etna's fires. — Ovid. 

31. O Death all eloquent ! you only prove 

What dust we dote on, when 'tis man we love.— Pope. 

32. For what greater blow could those judges — -if they 
are to be called judges, and not rather parricides of their 
country — have given to the state than when they banished 
that very man who, when prsetor, delivered the republic from 
a neighboring, and who, when consul, saved it from a civil 
war. — Cicero. 

33. What beck'ning ghost along the moonlight shade 
Invites my steps, and points to yonder glade? 
'Tis she ; but why that bleeding bosom gored 1 . 
Why dimly gleams the visionary sword 1 
O ever beauteous, ever friendly, tell, 
Is it in heaven a crime to love too well 1 
To bear too tender or too firm a heart, 
To act a lover's or a Roman's part 1 



680 RHETORICAL FORMS. 

Is there no bright reversion in the sky 

For those who greatly think or bravely die 1— Pope. 

34. But what could you have done in such a case and at 
such a juncture ? when to have sat still or to have withdrawn 
would have been cowardice, when the wickedness and fury 
of Saturnius had sent for you into the Capitol, and the con- 
sul had called you to protect the safety and liberty of your 
country ? Whose authority, whose voice, which party would 
you have followed ? and whose orders would you have chosen 
to obey ? — Cicero. 

35. Some have at first for wits, then poets pass'd, 

Turn'd critics next, and proved plain fools at last. — Pope. 

36. As the stream, late conceal'd by the fringe of its willows, 
When it rushes reveal'd by the light of its billows ; 

As the bolt bursts on high from the black cloud that bound it, 
Flash'd the soul of that eye through the long lashes round it. — Byron. 

37. Her hair, I said, was auburn ; but her eyes 

Were black as death, their lashes the same hue, 
Of downcast length, in whose silk shadow lies 
Deepest attraction. — Bykon. 

38. When Freedom, dress'd 
In blood-stain'd vest, 

To every knight her war song sung, 
Upon her head wild weeds were spread, 
A gory aniace by her hung. — Chatterton. 

39. " Jeremy Taylor is the Shakspeare of Divinity." 

40. still o'er these scenes my memory wakes. 
And broods them o'er with miser care ; 
Time but the impression stronger makes, 

As streams their channel deeper wear. — Burns. 

41. I am a royalist, I blushed for the degradation of the 
crown. I am a Whig, I blushed for the dishonor of Parlia- 
ment. I am a true Englishman, I felt to the quick for the 
disgrace of England. 1 am a man, I felt for the melancholy 
reverse of human aifairs in the fall of the first power in the 
world. — Burke. 

42. For a good opinion begets security ; security begets 
negligence ; temptation a fall ; (and, if unrepented), a fall 
into that state where our wish will be that we never had 
been born. — ^Young. 



EXERCISES IN FIGURES OF SPEECH. 631 

43. That he is mad 'tis true, 'tis pity ; 
And pity 'tis, 'tis true.— Hamlet. 

44. May the grass wither from thy feet ! the woods 
Deny thee shelter ! Earth a home ! the dust 
A grave ! the Sun his light ! and heaven a God ! — Byron's Cain. 

45. As for me, says Luther, I do not cease the cry of the 
Gospel ! Gospel ! Christ ! Christ ! and my opponents are 
ready with their answers : Custom ! Custom ! Ordinances ! 
Ordinances! Fathers! Fathers! — D'Aubigne. 

46. Of heaven, if thou wouldst reach a gleam, 
On humblest objects fix thy eyes ; 
So travelers in a picturing stream, 
Look down indeed, but see the skies. — L. Withington. 

47. " When young-eyed Spring profusely throws 

From her green lap the pink and rose ; 
When the soft turtle of the dale 
To Summer tells her tender tale ; 
When Autumn cooling caverns seeks. 
And stains with wine his jolly cheeks ; 
When Winter, like a poor pilgrim old, 
Shakes his silver beard with cold : 
At every season, let my ear 
Thy solemn whispers. Fancy, hear." 

48. " Hope and fear alternate sway'd his breast, 

Like light and shade upon a waving field. 
Coursing each other when the flying clouds 
Now hide and now reveal the scene." 

49. " One from a thousand feather'd deaths he chose." 

50. James (the Royal Poet) is evidently worthy of being 
enrolled in that little constellation of remote, but never-fail- 
ing luminaries who shine in the highest firmament of litera- 
ture, and who, like the morning stars, sang together at the 
dawning of British Poetry .^ — W. Irving. 

51. The mind of England's Elizabeth was like one of 
those ancient Druidical monuments called Rocking-stones. 
The finger of Cupid, boy as he is painted, could put her feel- 
ings in motion ; but the power of Hercules could not have 
destroyed their equilibrium. — Scott. 

52. Our present repose is no more proof of inability to act, 
than the state of inertness and inactivity in which I have seen 
those mighty masses that float in the waters above your town 



632 ' RHETORICAL FORMS. 

is a proof that they are devoid of strength, and incapable of 
being fitted for action. You well know how soon one of 
these stupendous masses, now reposing on their shadows with 
perfect stillness ; how soon, upon any call of patriotism or of 
necessity, it would assume the likeness of an animated thing, 
instinct with life and motion ; how soon it would ruffle, as it 
were, its swelling plumage ; how quickly it would put forth 
all its beauty and bravery, collect its scattered elements of 
strength, and awaken its dormant thunders. Such is one of 
those magnificent machines when springing from inaction 
into a display of its might; such is England herself; while 
apparently passive and motionless, she silently concentrates 
the power to be put forth on adequate occasion. — Canning. 



CHAPTER IV. 

PERSPICUITY. 

§656. Whatever be the end aimed at by the orator, un- 
less he speaks so as to be understood, he speaks to no purpose. 
If he fails in perspicuity, he fails in being understood. It is 
not enough that he can be understood by the closest atten- 
tion on the part of the hearer. He must be easily under- 
stood. Perspicuity is eminently a Rhetorical quality. Just 
as a sentence may be perfectly Grammatical, and yet be false 
in reference to logic, so it may be perfectly grammatical, 
and yet be deficient in Perspicuity. 

I. Obscurity may arise from Ellipsis ; as, " You ought to 
contemn all the wit in the world against you." As the writer 
does not mean to say that all the wit in the world is actually 
excited against the person whom he addresses, there is a de- 
fect in the expression, which may be removed by filling up 
the ellipsis. " He talks all the way up stairs to a visit." 
Fill up the ellipsis, and you remove the obscurity. '' He talks 
all the way as he walks up stairs to make a visit. 

II. Obscurity may arise from bad Arrangement. '<■ He 



PERSPICUITY. 633 

advanced against the fierce ancient, imitating his address, his 
pace, and career, as well as the vigor of his horse and his 
own skill would allow." The clause, as well as the vigor 
of his horse, appears at first to belong to the former part of 
the sentence, and is afterward found to belong to the latter. 

in. Obscurity may arise from using the same word in 
DIFFERENT SENSES. " That hc should bc in earnest it is hard 
to conceive, since any reasons of doubt which he might have 
in the case would have been reasons of doubt in other men, 
who may give more, but can not give more evident signs of 
thought than their fellow-creatures." Instead of using the 
same word more as an adjective and an adverb in the same 
sentence, the following form might be advantageously substi- 
tuted : " Who may give more numercms, but can not give 
more evident signs of doubt than their fellow-creatures." 
" The sharks who prey upon the inadvertency of young heirs, 
are more pardonable than those who trespass on the good 
opinion of those who treat with them on the footing of choice 
and respect." 

IV. Obscurity may arise from the injudicious use of Tech- 
nical Terms. Every important science or art has its pe- 
culiar terms, which are of great utility in the study of that 
science or the practice of that art, but which are not adapted 
to general use ; for the plain reason^ that they are not gen- 
erally understood. 

THE DOUBLE MEANING. 

§ 657. I. Obscurity may arise from the use of Equivocal 
Terms. "The next refuge was to say that it was overlooked 
by one, and many passages wholly written by another." The 
word overlooked sometimes signifies revised, and sometimes 
neglected. In this case the word revised would have been 
preferable. 

II. Obscurity may arise from Ambiguous Construction. 
" The rising tomb a lofty column bore." Did the tomb bear 
the column, or the column the tomb ? 

Obscurity also arises from Long sentences, or from an 
Artificial Construction of sentences. 



634 RHETORICAL FORMS. 



THE UNINTELLIGIBLE. 

§ 658. I. From Confusion of Thought. Though distinct 
thoughts are rendered confused by a gross medium, no clear- 
ness of medium can render a confused thought clear. The 
following indicates a confusion of thought : " The serene as- 
pect of these writers, joined with the great encouragement I 
observe is given to another, or what is intended to be sus- 
pected, in which he indulges himself, confirmed me in the 
notion I have of the prevalence of ambition this way." 

II. From Affectation of Elegance. " Men must acquire 
a very peculiar and strong habit of turning their eye inward, 
in order to explore the interior regions and recesses of the 
mind, the hollow caverns of deep thought, the private seats 
of fancy, and the wastes and wildernesses, as well as the 
more fruitful and cultivated tracts, of this obscure climate." 
This is the way in which an author tells us that it is difficult 
to trace the operations of the mind. 

III. From Want of Meaning. "Whatever renders a period 
sweet and pleasant, makes it also graceful ; a good ear is the 
gift of Nature. It may be much improved, but it can not 
be acquired by art ; whoever is possessed of it will scarcely 
need dry critical precepts to enable him to judge of the true 
rhy thmus and melody of composition : just members, accurate 
proportions, a musical symphony, magnificent figures, and 
that decorum which is the result of all these, are unison to 
the human mind ; we are so framed by nature that their 
charm is irresistible." We have here only some faint glim- 
merings of sense. 

IV. From Affectation of Metaphysical Depth and Ac- 
curacy. " Man is the dwarf of himself. Once he was per- 
meated and dissolved by spirit. He filled nature with his 
overflowing currents." 

V. From the Love of Paradox. " The Gospel appeals 
not only to our sense of duty, but to all our selfishness." 



LIVELINESS OF EXPRESSION. Q25 



CHAPTER V, 

LIVELINESS OF EXPRESSION, 

§ 659. Liveliness of Expression is of the greatest import- 
ance to the orator or the writer, inasmuch as it serves to fix 
the attention of the hearer or the reader^ to awaken his im- 
agination, and to impress the thought conveyed upon the 
memory. 

I. Liveliness of Expression as depending on the choice of 

WORDS. 

1. In the Song of Moses on the shores of the Red Sea, the 
inspired poet says, " They sank as lead in the mighty wa- 
ters." Make but a small alteration in the expression, and 
say, " Thej fell as metal in the mighty waters," and the dif- 
ference in the impression produced on the mind will be quite 
remarkable. In the one case we have the specific terms^ 
sank and lead; in the other, the generic terms, fell and metaL 
In the one case the picture is more distinct and brighter than 
the other. Specific Terms are more striking and vivid than 
General Terms. 

2. Words of Anglo-Saxon origin produce a livelier im- 
pression than those of Latin origin. " You lie /" will awaken 
more feeling than ''You tell di falsehood^ 

3. Words used Tropically are more expressive than other 
words. See § 609. 

II. Liveliness of Expression as depending on the number of 
words. As a general rule, the fewer the words the more 
lively the expression. " Brevity is the soul of wit." The 
principal Faults committed against brevity are, 

1. Tautology^ which is the repetition of some idea in dif- 
ferent words ; as, '' It was the privilege and birth-right of 
every citizen and poet to rail aloud and in public?'^ 

2. Pleonasm. This implies bare superfluity, or more than 
enough; as, ''They returned Z>acA; again to the same city 
from whence they came forth." 



636 RHETORICAL FORMS. 

3. Verbosity. The difference between Verbosity and Ple- 
onasm is, that in the former there are words which add 
nothing to the sense ; and in the latter, not only single words, 
but whole clauses may have a meaning, and yet it were bet- 
ter to omit them, because what they mean is unimportant. 
Instead of enlivening the expression, they make it languish. 

III. Liveliness of Expression as depending on the Arrange- 
ment of words. ^' Fallen, fallen is Babylon, that great city !" 
How much more lively is the impression which it produces 
is this arrangement of the words than the following: " Baby- 
lon is fallen, is fallen, that great city I" The first is the or- 
der of the original Greek ; the second, that of the received 
version. 

" Not in the legions 
Of horrid hell can come a devil more damned 
In ills to top Macbeth !" 

This is the arrangement adapted to the speaker's purpose. 
How much superior it is in liveliness of expression to the 
same words in the following Grammatical arrangement: ''A 
more damned devil in the legions of horrid hell can not come 
to top Macbeth in ills !" 

The general rule for the arrangement of words is, that the 
thought which is prominent in the speaker'' s mind should be 
the prominent thought in the sentence. 

§ 660. Sentences rhetorically considered are of two kinds: 
Periodic Sentences, and Loose Sentences. 
i A Periodic Sentence, or a Period, is a Sentence so framed 
that the Grammatical structure will not admit of a close be- 
fore the end of it ; or it is one in which the meaning remains 
suspended until the whole is finished. '-I am not of the 
mind of those speculators who seem assured that all states 
have the same period of infancy, manhood, and decrepitude 
that are found in individuals." Here the sense remains sus- 
pended until the close of the sentence. So in the following 
sentence : " But if there be reason to be slow in rejecting the 
new proposition, still more is there necessity for caution in its 
adoption. 

A Loose Sentence is any one that is not a period ; as, * ' I 
have told you already of mental ailments ; and it is a very 



LIVELINESS OF EXPRESSION. 537 

possible thing, also, that I may be bodily ill again in town, 
which I would not choose to be in a dirty, inconvenient lodg- 
ing, where, perhaps, my nurse might stifle me with a pillow ; 
and, therefore, it is no wonder if I prefer your house." In 
all loose sentences, as in this, there is always one place at 
least before the end, at which if you make a stop, the con- 
struction of the preceding part will render it a complete sen- 
tence. 

The Period, as being the most vigorous and lively, is es- 
pecially adapted to certain parts of an oration, and certain 
species of writing, where force and finish are necessary. The 
sense being suspended, keeps the attention awake until the 
close of the sentence. 

Of all parts of speech, remarks Campbell, Conjunctions 
are the most unfriendly to vivacity, and, next to them, the 
relative pronouns, as partaking of the nature of the conjunc- 
tion. Introduce the Conjunction and between the different 
members of the following passage, and you greatly lessen its 
remarkable liveliness : 

<' And the enemy said, I will pursue ; I will overtake ; I 
will divide the spoil ; my revenge will be satiated upon them ; 
I will draw my sword ; my hand shall destroy them : Thou 
blewest with Thy breath ; the sea covered them ; they sank 
as lead in the mighty waters !" 

THE CONSTITUENT PARTS OF A DISCOURSE. 

§ 661. I. The Exordium, or Introduction. II. The Enun- 
ciation and Division of the subject. III. The Narration or 
Explication. IV. The Reasoning or Arguments. V. The 
Pathetic part. VI. The Peroration or Conclusion. It does 
not fall within the limits of the present work to exhibit speci- 
mens and illustrations of these several parts. 



PART VIII. 

POETICAL FORMS. 

CHAPTER I. 

PRELIMINARY STATEMENTS. 



DEFINITIONS. 

§ 662. Poetical Forms are those combinations of lan- 
guage which are characterized by certain specific differences 
between them and composition in general. These differences 
relate to the laws of Versification. Poetry, besides holding 
much in common with G-rammar, Logic, and Rhetoric, has 
certain laws of its own. Grammar, aims at the correct use 
of language for the common understanding of those who speak 
and write it. Logic addresses the reasoning faculty. Rhet- 
oric endeavors to persuade the will to action. The aim of 
Poetry is to Please, by addressing the imagination, the taste, 
the sensibilities. In order to give pleasure, it uses the Forms 
of Grammar, of Logic, of Rhetoric, and also those Peculiar 
Forms which are indicated by Prosody. 

PROSODY. 

§ 663. Prosody, from the Greek Jlpoacddia (Latin accentus), 
originally signified accent. It is now used in a wider sense, 
and includes not only the doctrines of accent and quantity, 
but also the laws of meter and versification. 

ACCENT. 

§ 664. Accent bears the same relation to poetry in mod- 
ern languages which Quantity does to that of the Sanscrit, 
the Greek, and Latin. In the great family of languages 
called the Indo-European, three made time the index of their 
Rhythm, while all the rest employed accent. It is remarkable 



PRELIMINARY STATEMENTS. 539 

that those Dialects which now represent the Sanscrit, the 
Greek, the Latin, have lost their Temporal, and possess 
merely the Accentual Rhythm. So gradual was the change 
in the Greek, that even as late as the eleventh century there 
were authors who wrote indifferently in either rhythm. 

Et cantare pares et respondere parati. — Virgil. 

Here the Rhythm is formed by Long and Short syllables. 

She taught' the weak' to bend', the proud' to pray'. — Pope. 

Here the Rhythm is formed by Accented and Unaccented syl- 
lables. 

Moreover, in the Classical languages, quantity was meas- 
ured by the length of the Syllables, while in the English 
language quantity is measured by the length of the Vowels. 
Thus both syllables of the word index in Latin are long ; 
both vowels of the same word in English are short. Accord- 
ingly, the word forms a Spondee in Latin, and, being ac- 
cented on the first syllable, a Trochee in English. 

It is, indeed, true, that in English some syllables are longer 
.than others ; for every addition of a consonant must lengthen 
the syllable, whether the consonant be added at the beginning 
of a syllable ; as, Ass, lass, glass ; or at the end ; as, Ask, 
asks, ask'' St. The poet, if his ear is good, will regard this 
in the choice of his words, just as he employs imitative 
sounds ; still accent must form the law of his rhythm. See 
Part III., chap, v., vii., and viii. 

METER. 

^ %Qd. Meter or Metre is a general term for the recur- 
rence, within certain intervals, of syllables similarly affected. 
The meters of the Classical languages consist essentially in 
the recurrence of similar quantities. English meter essen- 
tially consists in the recurrence of syllables similarly ac- 
cented. 

Verse has been defined as a succession of articulate sounds, 
regulated by a rhythm so definite that we can readily fore- 
see the results which follow from its application. There is, 
indeed, also a rhythm met with in prose ; but in the latter 
its range is so wide that we can never anticipate its flow, 



640 POETICAL FORMS. 

while the pleasure we derive from verse is founded on thi^ 
very anticipation. The metrical arrangement of articulate 
sounds in verse, and not the superior beauty of thought or 
expression, is the distinctive characteristic of Poetry. 

Heap on' more wood' ! the wind' is chill' ; 
But let' it whis'tle as' it will', 
We'll keep' our Christ'mas mer'ry still' : 
Each age' has deem'ed the new'-born year' 
The fit'test time' for fes'tal cheer' ! — Scott. 

Here every other syllable is accented, and every other sylla- 
ble unaccented. When we understand that this is the law 
of the rhythm, we know what to expect in each successive 
syllable. It should be added, that it is more important to 
preserve the same number of accents in lines intended to be 
of the same measure than the same number of syllables. 

" Pa'tience is a vir'tue that shines' bright' in adver'sity." 
Here the accent follows no law, but falls on the 1st, 5th, 8th, 
9th, 12th. You can not predict the character of the suc- 
cessive syllables from the law of the rhythm. The measured 
extract is Poetry ; the unmeasured is Prose. 

A Distich or Couplet consists of two verses ; a Triplet of 
three. 

MEASURES. 

^ QQQ. For every accented syllable in the following line 
write the letter a, and for every unaccented one the letter re, 
so that a stands for an accent, and x for the absence of one : 

Hast thou' a charm' to stay' the morn'ing star' 1 — Coleridge. 

Or, expressed symbolically : 

xa, xa, X a, X a, X a. 
When X coincides with hast, and a with thou, you may 
determine the length of the line in two ways : you may either 
measure by the syllable, and say that the line consists of ten 
syllables ; or by the accents, and say that it consists of five 
accents. In this latter case, we take the accented syllable 
and its corresponding unaccented syllable, and, grouping the 
two together, deal with the pair at once. Now a Group of 
syllables, taken together, is called a Measure or a Foot. 
Thus, hast thou (a; a) is one measure, a charm {x a) anbth- 



PRELIMINARY STATEMENTS. 641 

er, and so on throughout. The line itself consists of five 
measures. Measures, being the same as musical bars, re- 
ceived the name of Feet, because their time was regulated by 
the foot of the Corypheus or director of the Greek choirs. 
This action was called beating time. 

§ 667. Dissyllabic Measures. — The number of these is 
limited to two, the Iambus and the Trochee. 

Sweet Thir'za ! wak'ing as' in sleep', 

Thou art' but now' a love'Iy dream' ; 
A star' that trem'bled o'er' the deep', 

Then turn'ed from earth' its ten'der beam' : 
But he' who through' life's drear'y way', 

Must pass' when heaven' is veiled' in wrath', 
Will long' lament' the van'ished ray' 

That scat'tered glad'ness o'er' his path'. — ByRow. 

In lines like the following, the measure is the reverse ot 
the preceding one. The accented syllable comes first, the 
unaccented one follows, the formula being ax: 

Lay' thy bow' of pearl' apart', 

And' thy sil'ver shin'ing quiv'er ; 
Give' unto' the fly'ing hart' 

Time' to breathe', how short' soev'er ; 
Thou' that mak'st' a day' of night', 
God'dess ! ex'quisite'ly bright'. — Ben Jonson. 

§ 668. Trisyllabic Measures.- — The number of these is 
limited to three, the Dactyl, the Amphibrach, the Anapest. 

1. The First of these is exhibited in the word merrily 
{a XX). ^ 

Mer'rily, mer'rily shall' I live now', 

Un'der the blos'som that hangs' on the bough'. — Shakspeare. 

2. The Second is exhibited in the word disable (x a x) 

But vain'ly thou war'rest : 
For this' is alone' in 
Thy pow'er to declare', 
That in' the dim for'est 
Thou heard"st a low moan'ing, 

And saw'st' a bright la'dy surpass'ingly fair'. — Coleridge. 

3. The Third is exhibited in the word Cavalier (x x a). 

There's a beau'ty forev'er unfad'ingly bright', 
Like the long' sunny lapse' of a sum'mer day's light' ; 
Ss 



542 POETICAL FORMS. 

Shining on', shining on', by no shad'ow made ten'der, 
Till love falls asleep in the sameness of splendor. — Moore. 

A CiEsuRA is a pause in a verse. 

Warms in the sun, 11 refreshes in the breeze, 

Glows in the stars, II and blossoms in the trees. — Pope. 

' RHYME. 

§ 669. E-HYME has been defined as the correspondence which 
exists between syllables containing sounds similarly modified. 

It is not a mere ornament : it marks and defines the ac- 
cent, and thereby strengthens and supports the rhythm. Its 
advantages have been felt so strongly, that no people have 
ever adopted an accented rhythm without also adopting rhyme. 

The moon is in her summer glow. 
But hoarse and high the breezes blow ; 
And, racking o'er her face, the cloud 
Varies the tincture of her shroud. — Scott. 

Here the last syllables of each line in the two couplets are said 
to Rhyme with each other. 

Fair Queen ! I will not blame thee now, 
As once by Greta's fairy side ; 
^ Each little cloud that dimm'd thy brow 

Did then an angel's beauty \ii(ie.-^Rokehy. 

Here the rhyming lines come alternately. 

What is grandeur 1 what is power] 
Heavier toil, superior pain ; 
What the bright reward we gain 1 
The grateful memory of the good. 
Sweet is the breath of vernal shower ; 
The bee's collected treasure's sweet ; 
Sweet music's melting fall ; but sweeter yet 
The still, small voice of Gratitude. — Gray. 

Here the E,hymes occur at wider intervals. 

ANALYSIS OF A PAIR OF RHYMING SYLLABLES. 

§ 670. Let the syllables told and bold be taken to pieces, 
and let the separate parts of each be compared. Viewed in 
reference to meter, they consist of three parts or elements : 
1. The vowel (o) ; the part preceding the vowel (1 and b re- 
spectively) ; the parts folloiuing the vowel (Id), Now the 



PRELIMINARY STATEMENTS. 643 

vowel (0), and the parts following the vowel (Id), are alike 
in both words (old) ; but the part preceding the vowel is dif- 
ferent in the different words {told^ bold). This difference 
between the parts preceding the vowel is essential : since, if 
it were not for this, the two words would be identical, or, 
rather, there would be but one word altogether. 

Again, compared with the words told and bold, the words 
teeth and h'eeze have two of the elements necessary to con- 
stitute a rhyme ; the two vowels are alike (ee), while the 
parts preceding the vowels are different (br and ^), and, as 
far as these two matters are concerned, the rhyme is a good 
one, tee and bree. Notwithstanding this, there is any thing 
rather than a rhyme, since the parts following, th and ze, in- 
stead of agreeing, differ. Breathe and beneath are in the 
same predicament, because the th is not sounded alike in the 
two words. 

Again, the words feel and mill constitute only a false and 
imperfect rhyme. Sound for sound, the letters /and m, the 
parts preceding the vowel, are different. This is as it should 
be. Also, sound for sound, I and Z/, the parts following the 
vowel, are identical, and this is as it should be also ; but ee 
and ^, the vowels, are different, and this difference spoils the 
rhyme. None and own are in the same predicament, since 
one o is sounded as o in note, and the other as u in but. 

For two or more words to rhyme with each other, it is, 
therefore, necessary, 

1. That the vowel be the same in both. 

2. That the parts following' the vowel be the same. 

3. That the parts preceding the vowel be different. 
Beyond this, it is necessary that the syllables, to form a 

full and perfect rhyme, should be accented syllables. Sky 
and lie form good rhymes, but sky and merri/?/ bad ones, and 
merrily and silly worse. 

IMPERFECT RHYMES. 

§ 671. 1. None audi oivn are better rhymes than none and 
man, because there are degrees in amount to which vowels 
differ from one another, and the sounds of the o in none and 
in own are more alike than the sounds of o in none^nii the 



644 POETICAL FORMS. 

a in man. In like manner, breathe and teeth are nearer to 
Rhymes than breathe and tease ; and breathe and tease are 
more alike in sound than breathe and teal. All this is be- 
cause the sound of th in teeth is more allied to that of th in 
breathe than that of 5 in tease ; and the s in tease is more al- 
lied to the same sound (th) than the / in teal. This shows 
that in imperfect rhymes there are degrees, and that some 
approach the nature of true rhymes more than others. 

2. In matters of Rhyme, the letter h counts as nothing. 
High and /, hair and air, are imperfect rhymes, because h 
(being no articulate sound) counts for nothing, and so the 
parts before the vowel i and a are not different (as they ought 
to be), but identical. 

Whose generous children narrow'd not their hearts 
With commerce, given alone to arms and arts. — Byron. 

8. Words where the letters coincide, but the sounds differ, 
are only rhymes to the eye : breathe and beneath are in this 
predicament ; so also are cease and ease (eaze). 

In the fat age of pleasure, wealth, and ease, 

Sprang the rank weed, and thrived with large increase. — Pope. 

4. If the sounds coincide, the difference of the letters is 
unimportant. 

<' They talk of principles, but notions prize ; 
And all to one loved folly sacrifice." 

DOUBLE AND TRIPLE RHYMES. 

§ 672. An accented syllable standing by itself, and com- 
ing under the conditions given above, constitutes a Single 
Rhyme. An accented syllable followed by an unaccented 
one, coming under the conditions given above, constitutes a 
Double Rhyme. 

When Love came first to earth, the Spring 

Spread rose-beds to receive him ; 
And back, he vow'd, his flight he'd wing 

To heaven, if she should leave him. 

But Spring departing, saw his faith 

Pledged to the next new-comer ; 
He revel'd in the warmer breath 

And richer bowers of Summer, 



PRELIMINARY STATEMENTS. 545 

The sportive Autumn claim'd by rights 

An Archer for her lover ; 
And even m Winter's dark, cold nights, 

A charm he could discover. 

Her routs, and balls, and fire-side joy, 

For this time were his reasons : 
In short, Young Love's a gallant boy 

That likes all times and seasons. — Campbell. 

An accented syllable followed by two unaccented ones, 
and coming under the conditions stated above, constitutes a 
Triable Rhyme. 

Oh ye immortal Gods ! what is theogony 1 
Oh thou, too, immortal man ! what is philanthropy ? 

Oh world that was and is I what is cosmogony ? 
Some people have accused me of misanthi-opy, 

And yet I know no more than the mahogany 

That forms this desk of what they mean : ly canthropy 

I comprehend ; for, without transformation, 

Men become wolves on any slight occasion. — Byron. 

MIDDLE RHYME. 

§ 673. Middle Rhyme is that which exists between the 
last accented syllables of the two sections of a line. 

Happy, ye sons of busy life, 
Who, equal to the bustling strife, 

No other view regard, 
Ev'n when the wish'd end's denied ; 
Yet, when the busy means are plied, 

They bring their own reward : 
While I, a hope-abandon'd wight. 

Unfitted with an aim. 
Meet every sad returning night 

And joyless morn the same ! 
You, bustling and jostling, 

Forget each care and pain ; 
I, listless yet restless, 

Find every prospect vain ! — Burns. 

And now there came both mist and snow. 

And it grew wondrous cold ; 
And ice, mast-high, came floating by 

As green as emerald. 

The ice was here, the ice was there, 

The ice was all around : 
It crack'd and growVd, and roar'd and howVd 

Like noises in a swound. — Coleridge. 



546 POETICAL FORMS. 



SECTIONAL RHYME. 

§ 674. Sectional Ehyme is that which exists between syl- 
lables contained in the same section. 

Will stoode for skill, | and law obeyed lust ; 

Might trode down right; \ of King there was no feare.— Ferrers. 

Lightly and brightly breaks away 

The morning from her mantle gray. — BrRON. 

So many as love me, and use me aright, 

With treasure and pleasure I richly requite. — Tusser. 

INVERSE RHYME. 

§ 675. Inverse Rhyme is that which exists between the 
last accented syllable of the first section and the first accented 
syllable of the second. 

The piper loud, and louder blew ; 

The dancers quick, and quicker flew. — Burns. 

These steps both reach, and teach thee shall 
To come by thrift, to shift withal. — Tusser. 

alliteration. 

§ 676. Alliteration is the repetition of the same letter at 
the commencement of two or more words, or at short inter- 
vals ; as, 

" Who often, but without success, have pray'd 
For apt alliteration's artful aid." 

Alliteration is the distinctive characteristic of the Ansjlo 
Saxon, and, indeed, of all the Gothic meters. 

— Rathe was gefylled 
Heah cyninge's hcEs, him was haling leoht. 

— Quick was fulfill'd 
The high king's 'best, around him was holy light. — C^dmon. 

On last legdun, lathum leodum. 

At foot they laid on the loathed bonds. — Brunanhurgh War Song. 

BLANK VERSE. 

§ 677. Rhyme is not essential to English verse. It is an 
ornament, and something more. Final rhyme has been called 
a " time-beater :" it separates each verse from tho others by 



PRELIMINARY STATEMENTS. ^47 

a distinct boundary, and thus contributes to the measure. 
Still it is not essential. Measures, where there are no rhymes, 
are called Blank Verse. 

All night the dreadless Angel, unpursued, 

Through Heaven's wide champaign held his way ; till Morn, 

Waked by the circling Hours, with rosy hand 

Unbarr'd the gates of light. — Milton. 

POETICAL LICENSE. 

§ 678. The Rules of Syntax are sometimes traversed by 
the practice of the poets. 

1. The Verb precedes the Nominative; as, 

Sunh was the sun, and up the eastern heaven, 
Like maiden on a lonely pilgrimage, 
Moved the meek star of eve. — Milman. 

2. The verb follows the Accusative ; as, 

His prayer he saith, this holy man. — Keats. 

3. The Noun precedes the Adjective ; as, 

'Twas in youth, that hour of dreaming, 

Round me visions fair were beaming.^ — Mrs. Norton. 

4. The Infinitive Mode precedes the governing word ; as, 

When first thy sire, to send on earth, 
Virtue, his da,rling child, designed. — Gray. 

5. An Intransitive verb is placed at the beginning of a 
sentence ; as, 

Air blacken'd, rolVd the thunder, groan'd the ground. — Dryden. 

6. Adverbs precede the words which they qualify ; as, 

The plowman homeward plods his weary way. — Gray. 

7. The Preposition follows its governing word ; as, 

"Where echo walks steep hills among.''^ 

8. The article is often omitted ; as, 

" What dreadful pleasure ! there to stand, sublime, / 

Like shipwreck'd mariner on desert coast." 

9. Compound epithets are frequently used ; as, 

music ! sphere-descended maid ! — Collins. 

10. A positive is joined with a comparative ; as, 

^^Near, and more near, the intrepid beauty press'd." 



648 POETICAL FORMS ^ 

11. After a Pronoun its represented noun is repeated; as, 

"Zf ceased the melancholy sound.'' 

12. The Relative is omitted ; as, 

u j-pjg pancy, in her fiery car, 
Transports me to the thickest war !" 

13. The Antecedent is omitted ; as, 

"Who never fasts, no banquet e'er enjoys." 

14. Intransitive verbs are made to govern the objective: as, 

" still in harmonious intercourse they lived 
The rural day, and taWd the flowing heart.'' 

15. The Uncompounded form of the first and third per- 
sons Imperative is used ; as, 

" Turn we a moment Fancy's rapid flight." 
'• Fall he who must beneath a rival's arms." 

16. In the compound Tenses the auxiliary only is used; as, 

"What for ourselves we can is always ours." 

17. The Idioms of other languages are used; as, 

" For not to have been dipp'd in Lethe's lake 

Could save the son of Thetis from to die.'" 
" He came ; and, standing in the midst, explain'd 

The ^eace rejected, but the truce detained." 

18. Antiquated v^ords and modes of expression are used; as, 

" Shall I receive by gift what of my own. 

When where likes me best, I can command V 
" In sooth, he was a strange and wayward wight.'" 

Some of these Forms are not peculiar to poetry. 

ELISION. 

§ 679. Elision, Latin elido, to strike off, is a general term 
for certain Euphonic Figures, in which there is an omission 
of a letter or letters. See § 78. 

'Twas theirs alone to dive into the plan 
That truth and mercy hadreveal'd to man. — Cowper. 
Hence British poets, too, the priesthood shared, 
And ev'ry hallo w'd Druid was a bard. — Cowper. 

For want of faith, 
Down the steep precipice of wrong he slides : 
There's nothing to support him in the right. — Young. 

Who durst defy th' Omnipotent to arms \ — Milton. 

Because the Father, t' whom in heaven supreme ]— Milton. 



IAMBIC MEASURES. 549 



CHAPTER 11. 

IAMBIC MEASURES. 



IAMBIC MONOMETER. 

Formula x a. 
§ 680. In the following extract the two accented lines are 
each composed of a single Iambus. 

'Twas on a day, 
When the immortals at their banquet lay, 
The bowl' 

Sparkled with starry dew ; 
The weeping of those myriad Urns of light, 
Within whose orbs the almighty Power, 

At Nature's dawning hour, 
Stored the rich fluid of ethereal soul ! 

Around' 
Soft odorous clouds that upward wing their flight 

From Eastern Isles, &c.— Moore. 

Formula x a-^. 

In the following stanzas the three accented lines consist 
of an Iambus and an additional syllable. 

The day had sunk in dim showers, 

But midnight now, with luster meek', 
Illumined all the pale flowers, 
Like hope that lights a mourner's cheek : 
I said', while 
The moon's' smile 
Played o'er a stream in dimpling bliss, 
*' The moon' looks 
On many brooks 
The brook can see no moon but this." 
And thus, I thought, our fortunes run ; 

For many a lover looks to thee ; 
While, oh ! I feel there is but one, 
One Mary in the world for me ! — Moore. 



050 POETICAL FORMS. 



IAMBIC DIMETER. 

Formula x aX2. 
§ 681. In the following extract the accented lines are 
composed of two Iambics. 

Wheel the wild dance 
While lightnings glance, 

And thunders rattle loud ! . 

And call' the brave' 
To blood'y grave' 

To sleep without a shroud ! 
Our ai'ry feet', 
So light' and fleet', 

They do not bend the rye 
That sinks its head when whirlwinds rave, 
And swells again in eddying wave. 

As each wild gust goes by ; 
But still' the corn', 
At dawn' of morn' 

Our fatal steps that bore, 
At eve' lies waste', 
A tram'pled paste' 

Of black'ning mud and gore ! — Scott. 

Formula x aX2+. 
In this extract the accented lines are composed of two 
Iambics and an additional syllable. 

Could love' forev'er 
Run like' a riv'er. 
And Time's' endeav'or 

Be tried in vain. 
No oth'er pleas'ure 
With this' could meas'ure, 
And, like' a treas'ure. 

We'd hug' the chain'. 

■' But since' our sigh'ing 

Ends not' in dy'ing, ^- 

And, form'd' for fly'ing, 

Love plumes his wing ; 
Then, for' this rea'son, 
Let's love' a sea'son, 
But let that season 

Be only spring.— Byron. 



IAMBIC MEASURES. 651 

IAMBIC TRIMETER. 

Formula x aXZ. 
§ 682. In this extract the accented lines are composed of 
three Iambics. 

We stand among the fallen leaves, 

Young chil'dren at' our play', 
And laugh to see the yellow things 

Go rust'ling on' their way' : 
- Right merrily we hunt them down, 

The Au'tumn winds' and we' ; 
Nor pause to gaze where snow-drifts lie, 

Or sun'beams gild' the tree' : 
With dancing feet we leap along 

Where with'er'd boughs' are strewn ; 
Nor past nor future checks our song — 

The pres'ent is' our own' ! — Mrs. Norton. 

Formula X aX2+. 
In this extract the accented lines are composed of three 
lambies, with an additional syllable. 

Then out' spake brave' Hora'tius, 

The Captain of the Gate : 
To ev'ry man upon this earth, 

Death cometh soon or late ! ' 

And how' can man' die bet'ter 

Than facing fearful odds 
For the ash'es of his fa'thers, 

And the temple of his Gods'? — Macaulay. 

IAMBIC TETRAMETER. 

Formula x aX4:. 
§ 683. In the following the law of the measure is, that 
there should be four Iambics in each line. Instead of an 
Iambus, there is occasionally a Trochee, as in the first foot. 
This is the common octosyllabic verse. 

Child of the Country ! free as air 
Art thou', and as' the sun'shine fair' : 
Born, like' the li'ly, where' the dew,' 
Lies odorous when the day is new ; 
Fed 'mid the May-flowers, like the bee ; 
Nursed to sweet music on the knee ; 



652 POETICAL FORMS. 

LuU'd in the breast to that glad tune 
Which winds make 'mong the woods of June : 
I sing of thee ! 'Tis sweet to sing 
Of such a fair and gladsome thing. 

Child of the Town ! for thee I sigh ; 
A gilded roof's thy golden sky ; 

A carpet is thy daisied sod ; ^ 

A narrow street thy boundless road ; 
Thy rushing deer's the clattering tramp 
Of watchmen ; thy best light's a lamp ; 
Through smoke, and not through trellis'd vines 
' . And blooming trees, thy sunbeam shines : 
I sing of thee in sadness ! Where 
Else is wreck wrought in aught so fairl — Allan Cunningham. 

Formula X aX 4:+, 
In this extract the accented lines are composed of four 
Iambics and an additional syllable. 

Wee, sleek'it, cow'rin', tim"rous beas'tie ! 

what a panic's in thy breastie ! 
Thou needna start awa' sae hasty, 

Wi' bickering brattle ! 

1 wad be laith to rin an' chase thee 

Wi' murdering pattle ! 

I'm tru'ly sor'ry man's' domin'ion 
Has bro'ken Na'ture's so'cial un'ion. 
An' jus'tifies' that ill' opin'ion, 
V Which makes thee startle 

At me', thy poor' earth-born' compan'ion. 

An' fellow-mortal I — Burns. 

IAMBIC PENTAMETER. 

Formula x aX5. 
§ 684. In these extracts the law of the measure is, that 
each line should consist of five Iambics. This is called 
Heroic measure. 

Dim as' the bor'row'd beams' of moon' and stars 
To lone'ly, wea'ry, wan'd'ring trav'elers' 
Is Reason to the soul ! and as on high 
Those rolling fires discover but the sky, 
Not light, as here ; so Reason's glimmering ray 
Was lent, not to assure our doubtful way, 
But guide us upward to a better day. — Dkvden. 

O unexpected stroke ! worse than of Death ! 
Must I leave thee, Paradise ? thus leave 



IAMBIC MEASURES. 053 

Thee, native soil 1 these happy walks and shades, 
Fit haunt of Gods 1 where I had hoped to spend 
Quiet, though sad, the respite of that day 
That must be mortal to us both ! O flowers ! 
That never will in any other climate grow, 
My early visitation and my last 
At even ; which I bred up with tender hand 
From the first opening bud, and gave ye names : 
Who now shall rear ye to the sun "? or rank 
Your tribes, and water from the ambrosial fount 1 
Thee, lastly, nuptial bower ! by me adorn'd 
With what to sight or smell was sweet ! from thee 
How shall I part 1 and whither wander down 
. . Into a lower world, to this obscure 

And wild "? How shall we breathe in other air 
Less pur6, accustom'd to immortal fruits ■?— Milton. 

Formula x aX5-{-. 
In the following extract the accented lines are composed 
of five Iambics and an additional syllable. 

Day-stars', that ope' your eyes' with morn' to twink'le, 

From rain'bow gal'axies' of earth's' crea'tion. 
And dew'-drops o'er' her love'ly al'tars sprink'le 

As a libation. 

Ye matin worshipers, who, bending lowly 

Before the uprisen sun, God's lidless eye, 
Throw from your chalices a sweet and holy 

Incense on high ! 

'Neath cloister'd boughs each floral bell that swingeth. 

And tolls'its perfume on the passing air. 
Makes Sabbath in the fields, and ringeth 

A call to prayer ! 

Not to that dome where sculptured arch and column 

Attest the feebleness of mortal hand ; 
But to that fane, most catholic and solemn, 

Which God hath plann'd 2 

To that Cathedral, boundless as our wonder. 

Whose quenchless lamps the sun and moon supply ; 
Whose choirs the winds and waves ; whose organ, thunder ; 

Whose dome the sky ! 

Horace Smith. 

IAMBIC HEXAMETER. 

Formula x aX6. 
§ 685. In this measure there are six Iambics. It is usu« 



g54 POETICAL FORMS. 

ally called the Alexandrine. The last line of the Spenserian 
stanza is of this character. 

When PhcE'bus lifts' his head' out of the win'ter's wave'. 
No sooner doth the earth her flow'ry bosom brave, 
At such time as the year brings on the pleasant spring, 
But hunts-up to the morn the feather'd sylvans sing ; 
And in the lower grove, as on the rising knoll, 
Upon the highest spray of ev'ry mounting pole, 
Those quiristers are perch'd with many a speckled breast : 
Then from her burnish'd gate the goodly glittering East 
Gilds every lofty top, which late the humorous Night 
Bespangled had with pearl, to please the Morning's sight ; 
On which the mirthful quires, with their clear open throats, 
Unto the joyful morn so strain their warbling notes 
That hills and valleys ring, and even the echoing air 
Seems all composed of sounds about them every where. 

Drayton. 

lAMBie HEPTAMETER. 

For inula x aXl . 

§ 686. In the following extract the lines are composed of 

seven Iambics. 

She sits' beneath' the el'der shade' in that' long mor'tal swoon', 
And piteously on her wan cheek looks down the gentle Moon ; 
And when her senses are restored, whom sees she at her side 
But her, believed in childhood to have wander'd oif and died ! 

In these small hands, so lil3'^-white, is water from the spring. 
And a grateful coolness drops as from an angel's wing ; 
And to her mother's pale lips her rosy lips are laid, 
While these long, soft eye-lashes drop tears on her hoary head. 

She stirs not in her child's embrace, but yields her old gray hairs 
Unto the heavenly dew of tears, the heavenly breath of pray'r ; 
No voice hath she to bless her child till that strong fit go by, 
But gazeth on the long-lost face, and then upon the sky. 

The Sabbath-morn was beautiful, and the long Sabbath day ; 
The Ev'ning star rose beautiful when daylight died away ; 
Morn, day, and twilight, this lone glen flow'd over with delight, 
But the fullness of all mortal joy hath bless'd the Sabbath night i 

Wilson. 

Formula x aXl -\-. 
In this extract there are seven Iambics and an additional 
syllable. 



TROCHAIC MEASURE^. 555 

Had Ellen lost' her mirth' 1 Oh no' ! but she' was sel'dom cheer'ful ; 
And Edward look'd as if he thought that Ellen's mirth was fearful : 
So gentle Ellen now no more could make this sad house cheery ; 
And Mary's melancholy ways drove Edward wild and weary. 

Coleridge. ( 

TROCHAIC MEASURES. 
TROCHAIC MONOMETER. 

Formula ax. 
§ 687. In the following extract the accented lines are com- 
posed of a single Trochee. 

From walk to walk, from shade to shade ; 
From stream to purling stream convey'd, 
Through all the mazes of the grove, 
Through all the mingling tracks I rove, 

Turn'ing, 
'^ Burn'ing ; 

Chang'ing, 

Rang'ing ; 
Full of grief and full of love ! — Addison. 

Formula a xX. 
In this extract there is in the accented lines one Trochee, 
with an additional syllable. 

What sounds Vv^ere heard 1 
What scenes appear'd 
O'er all the dreary coasts 1 

Dread'ful gleams, 

Dis'mal screams ; 

Fires' that glow, 

Shrieks' of woe ; 

Sul'len moans, 

Hol'low groans ; 
And cries of tortured ghosts ! — Pope. 

TROCHAIC DIMETER. 

Formula a xX2. 

§ 688. In the following extract the accented lines consist 

of two Trochees. 

On a bank, beside a willow, 

Heaven her covering, earth her pillow, 

Sad Aminta sigh'd alone ; 
From the cheerless dawn of morning, 
Till the dews of night returning, 



Q56 POETICAL FORMS. 

Sighing, thus she made her moan : 

Hope' is ban'ish'd, 

Joys' are van'ish'd ; 
Damon, my beloved, is gone ! — Dryden. 

Formula axX2+. 
In this extract there are in the accented lines two Tro- 
chees and an additional syllable. 

All' that's bright' must fade : 

The brightest still the fleetest ; 
All' that's bright' must fade, 

But to be lost when sweetest. 
Stars' that shine' and fall. 

The flower that drops in springing ; 
These, alas ! are types of all 

To which our hearts are clinging. 
All that's bright must fade : 

The brightest still the fleetest ; 
All that's sweet was made 

But to be lost when sweetest ! — Moore. 

TROCHAIC TRIMETER. 

Formula a xXS. 
§ 689. In the following extract the accented lines are com- 
posed of three Trochees. 

When' around' thee, dy'ing, 
Au'tumn leaves' are ly'ing, 

Oh then remember me ! 
And' at night' when gaz'ing 
On' the gay' hearth blaz'ing, 

Oh still remember me ! 
Then' should mu'sic, steal'ing 
All' the soul' of Feel'ing, 
To' thy heart' appealing, 

Draw one tear from thee ; 
Then let memory bring thee 
Strains' I used' to sing thee, 

Oh remember me ! — Moore. 

Formula a xXS + . 
In each of these lines there are three Trochees and an ad- 
ditional syllable. 

Un'derneath' this mar'ble hearse 
Lies' the sub'ject of all verse : 



TROCHAIC MEASURES. ^57 

Sidney's sister, Pembroke's mother ; 

Death, ere thou hast slain another 

Learn'd', and fair', and good' as she, 

Time' shall throw' his dart' at thee ! — Ben Jonson. 



TROCHAIC TETRAMETER. 

Formula a xX4:. 
§ 690. The accented lines are composed of four Trochees. 

Then' her coun'tenance' all ov'er 

Paie again as death did prove ; 
But' he clasp'd' her like' a lov'er, 

And he cheer'd her soul with love. 
So' she strove' against' her weak'ness, 

Though at times her spirit sank ; 
Shaped' her heart' with wom'an's meek'ness 

To all duties of her rank. ' ,. 

And' a gen'tle con'sort made' he ; 

And her gentle mind was such 
That' she grew' a no'ble la'dy, 

And the people loved her much. 
But' a troub'le weigh' d' upon' her, 

And perplex'd her night and morn, 
With' the bur'den of an hon'or 

Unto which she was not born. — Tennyson. 

Formula a xX 4:+. 
The accented lines consist of four Trochees and an addi- 
tional syllable. 

Turn thee, fond mother ! 

From thy dead, oh turn ! 
Linger not, young brother, 
Here to dn <im and mourn. 
On'ly kneel' once mp e' around' the sod, 
Kneel', and bow' submit'ted hearts' to God ! 

Mrs. HEM.iNs. 

TROCHAIC PENTAMETER. 

Formula axX5. 
§ 691. The accented lines consist of five Trochees. 

Then methought I heard a hollow sound 
Gathering up from all the lower ground, 
Nar'rowing in' to where' they sat' assem'bled, 
Low', volup'tuous mu'sic wind'ing trem'bied, 
T T 



058 POETICAL FORMS. 

Woven in circles. They that heard it sigb'd, 
Panted hand-in-hand, with faces pale, 

Swung themselves, and in low tones replied ; 

Till the fountain spouted, showering wide 
Sleet of diamond-drift and pearly hail : 

Then the music touch'd the gates, and died ! 

Tennyson. 



TROCHAIC HEXAMETER. 

Formula a xXQ. 

§ 692. i?he following lines are composed of six Trochees. 

*' On' a mount'ain, stretch'd' beneath' a hoa'ry wil'low, 
Lay' a shep'herd swain', and view'd' the roll'ing bil'low." 

TROCHAIC HEPTAMETER. 

§ 693. Formula axX7, or axX7 + . 

Here' about' the beach' I wan'der'd, nour'ishing' a youth' sublime 
With the fairy tales of science, and the long results of Time ; 
When the centuries behind me like a fruitful land reposed ; 
When I clung to all the Present for the promise that it closed ; 
When I dipp'd into the Future far as human eye could see, 
Saw the vision of the world, and all the wonder that would be : 
In the Spring a feeble crimson comes upon the robin's breast ; 
In the Spring the wanton lapwing gets himself another nest; 
In the Spring a livelier iris changes on the banish'd dove ; 
In the Spring a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love : 
Then her cheek was pale and thinner than should be for one so young, 
And her eyes on all my motions with a mute observance hung. 
And I said, " My cousin Amy, speak, and speak the truth to me ;" 
" Trust me, cousin, all the current of my being sets to thee !" 

Tennyson. 



ANAPESTIC MEASURES. 
ANAPESTIC MONOMETER. 

Formula x x a. 
§ 694. Each of the following lines consist of a single Ana- 
pest. 

" In a sweet' 

Resonance' 
All their feet' 

In the dance' 
All the night' 

Tinkled light." 



ANAPESTIC MEASURES. 659 



ANAPESTIC DIMETER. 

Formula x x aX2. 
§ 695. Each of the following lines is composed of tv*ro 
Anapests. 

" In my rage' shall be seen' 
The revenge' of a Queen' !" 

Formula x x a 2+. 
Tn the following lines there are two Anapests and an ad- 
ditional syllable. 

He is gone' on the mount'ain, 

He is lost' to the for'est, 
Like a summer-dried fountain, 

When our need was the sorest : 
Like the dew on the mountain, 
' ' Like the foam on the river ; ■ 

Like the bubble on the fountain, 

Thou art gone, and forever ! — Scott. 

ANAPESTIC TRIMETER. 

Formula xx aXS. 
§ 696. In the following accented lines there are three 
Anapests. 

' Oh ye woods' spread your branch'es apace' ; 

To your deepest recesses I fly ; 
I would hide' with the beasts' of the chase' ; 

I would vanish from every eye ! 
Yet my reed shall resound through the grove 

With the same sad complaint it begun ; 
How she smiled, and I could not but love : 

Was faithless, and I am undone ! — Shenstone, 

ANAPESTIC TETRAMETER. 

Formula xx aX4:. 
§ 697. In the following lines there are three Anapests. 

Through the depths' of Loch Kat'rine the steed' shall career' ; 
O'er the Peak' of Ben Lo'mond the gal'ley shall steer' ; 
And the rocks of Craig Royston like icicles melt, 
Ere our wrongs be forgot, or our vengeance unfelt ! — Scott. 



Formula x x aX4+. 
Here there is an additional syllable. 



660 POETICAL FORMS. 

If they rob' us of name' and pursue' us with bea'gles, 
Give their roof to the flame and their flesh to the eagles 
While there's leaves in the forest and foam on the river, 
MacGregor, despite them, shall flourish forever ! — Scott. 



AMPHIBRACH MEASURES. 
AMPHIBRACH MONOMETER. 

Formula xax, 
§ 698. The accented lines are composed of a single Am- 
phibrach. 

Whisperings heard by wakeful maids, 
To whom the night-stars guide us ; 
Stolen walks through moonlight. 
With those we love beside us : 

Hearts beat'ing 

At meet'ing ; 

Tears start'ing 

At part'ing ; 
Oh sweet youth, how soon it fades ! 
Sweet joys of youth, how fleeting! — Moore. 

AMPHIBRACH DIMETER. 

Formula x a x+2. 
§ 699. The accented lines are composed of two Amphi- 
brachs. 

The black' bands came ov'er 
The Alps and their snow ; 
With Bour'bon, the rov'er, 

They pass'd the broad Po : 
We [have] beat'en all foe'men. 
We [have] captured a king ; 
We [have] turn'd' back on no' men. 
And so let us sing : 

The Bour'bon forev'er ! 
Though penniless all. 
We'll [have] one' more endeav'or 
At yonder old wall. — Byron. 

AMPHIBRACH TRIMETER. 

Formula x a xXd. 
§ 700. The accented lines are composed of three Amphi- 
braohs. 



DACTYLIC MEASURES. ggj 

A con'quest, how hard' and how glo'rious' ! 

Though fate had fast bound her 

With Styx nine times round her ! 
Yet mu'sic and love' were victo'rious ! — Pope. 

Formula x a xXZ—. 
Here one syllable is wanting. 

Ye shep'herds, so cheer'ful and gay', 

Whose flocks never carelessly roam, 
Should Corydon's happen to stray, 

Oh call the poor wanderers home. 
Allow me to muse and to sigh, 

Nor talk of the change that ye find; 
None once was so watchful as I ; ~^ 

I have left my dear Phyllis behind.—SHENsxoNE. 

AMPHIBRACH TETRAMETER. 

J 701. Formula xaxX^. 

[Thanks], my Lord', for your ven'ison ; for fin'er nor fat'ter 

Ne'er ranged' in the for'est nor smoked' on the plat'ter : 

The flesh was a picture for painters to study, 

The fat was so white and the lean was so ruddy. 

[Though] my stomach was sharp, I could scarce help regretting 

To spoil such a delicate picture by eating. — Goldsmith. 

Formula x a a;X4— . 
The accented lines are composed of four Amphibrachs, 
wanting one syllable. 

But meeter for thee, gentle lover of nature, 
To lay' down thy head' like the meek' mountain lamb' ; 

When wilder'd he drops from some cliff huge in stature, 
And draws' his last sob' by the side' of his dam'. 

And more stately thy couch by this desert lake lying, 

Thy obsequies sung by the gray plover flying, 

With one faithful friend to witness thy dying, 
In the arms of Helvellyn and Catchedicam. — Scott. 

DACTYLIC MEASURES. 
DACTYLIC MONOMETER. 

§ 702. Formula axx. 

" Fear'fully. 
Tear'fully, 
She hasten'd on her way." 



QQ2 POETICAL FORMS. 



DACTYLIC DIMETER. 

Formula a x xX 2 and a x xX2—. 
§ 703. In the following the lines 1, 3, 5, &c., consist of 
two Dactyls, and the lines 2, 4, 6, &c., consist of two Dac- 
tyls, wanting the last syllable. 

Pi'broch of Don'uil Dhn, 

Pibroch of Donuil, 
Wake'' thy wild voice' anew, 

Summon Clan-Conuil. 
Come away, come away ! 

Hark to the summons ! 
Come in your war-array, 

Gentles and commons ! 
Come from the deep glen, and 

From mountain so rocky ; 
The war-pipe and pennon 

Are at Inverlochy. 
Come every hill-plaid, and 

True heart that wears one ; 
Come every steel blade, and 

Strong hand that bears one ! 
Leave untended the herd. 

The flock without shelter ; 
The corpse uninterr'd, 

The bride at the altar ; 
Leave the deer, leave the steer, 

Leave nets and barges ; 
Come with your fighting gear, 

Broadswords and targes ! 
Come as the winds come, when 

Forests are rended ; 
Come as the waves come, when 

Navies are stranded : 
Faster come, faster come. 

Faster and faster ! 
Chief, vassal, page, and groom, 

Tenant and master. 
Fast they come, fast they come : 

See how they gather ! 
Wide waves the eagle plume. 

Blended with heather. 
Cast your plaids, draw your blades ; 

Forward each man set ! 
Pibroch of Donuil Dhu, 

Knell for the onset ! — Scott. 



COMBINED MEASURES. ggg 

DACTYLIC TRIMETER. 

§ 704. Formula a x xXS and a xxXS—, 

" Peace' to the Isle' of the o'cean ! 

Peace' to thy breez'es and bil'lows ! " 

DACTYLIC TETRAMETER. 

\ 705. Formula a x xX 4c. 

Hail to the Chief who in triumph advances ! 

Honor'd' and bless'd be' the ever'-green Pine ! 
Long' may the tree' in his ban'ner that glanc'es 
Flourish, the shelter and grace of our line ! 

Heaven send it happy dew, 

Earth lend it sap anew, 
Gayly to bourgeon, and broadly to grow ; 

While every Highland glen 

Sends our shout back agen, 
" Roderigh Vich Alpine dhu, ho ! ieroe !" — Scott. 

DACTYLIC HEXAMETER. 

§ 706. The last line in each verse is a Spondee. The ac- 
cented lines have five Dactyls. 

This' is the fo'rest prime'val ; but where' are the hearts' that beneath it 
Leap'd' like the roe', when it hears' in the wood'land the voice' of the huntsman"? 
Where is the thatch-roofed village, the home of Acadian farmers'? 
Men whose lives glided on like rivers th-at water the woodlands, 
Darken'd by shadows of earth, but reflecting an image of Heaven 1 

Longfellow. 



CHAPTER III. 

COMBINED MEASURES. 



THE SPENSERIAN STANZA. 



§ 707, This consists of nine Iambic lines, the eight first 
being Heroics, and the ninth an Alexandrine. The law of 
the Rhyme may be seen in the following : 



664 POETICAL FORMS. 

I care not, Fortune, what you me deny : 

You can not rob me of free Nature's grace ; 
You can not shut the windows of the sky, 

Through which Aurora shows her bright'ning face ; 
You can not bar my constant feet to trace 

The woods and lawns by hving stream at eve ; 
Let health my nerves and finer fibers brace, 

And I their toys to the great children leave : 
Of fancy, reason, virtue, naught can me bereave. — Thomson. 

A Stanza is a combination of several lines constituting 
the regular division of a poem. 

gay's stanza. 
§ 708. The formula for the odd lines i^ x aXZ-\- ] for the 
even lines, x aXZ. The rhymes are alternate, and the odd 
rhymes double. 

" 'Twas when the seas were roaring 

With hollow blasts of wind, 
A damsel lay deploring. 

All on a rock reclined ; 
Wide o'er the foaming billows 

She cast a wistful look ; 
Her head was crown'd with willows, 

That trembled o'er the brook." 

ELEGIAC OCTOSYLLABICS. 

§ 709. These are the same as the common octosyllabics 
(see § 683), except that the rhymes are regularly alternate, 
and the verses are arranged in stanzas. 

And on her lover's arm she leant. 

And round her waist she felt it fold ; 
And far across the hills she went, 

In that new world which now is old : 
Across the hills and far away, 

Beyond their utmost purple rim ; 
And deep into the dying day 

The happy princess followed him. — Tennyson. 

OCTOSYLLABIC COUPLETS. 

§ 710. Four measures, x a, with pairs of rhymes. See 
§683. 

OCTOSYLLABIC TRIPLETS. 

§ 711. Four measures, x a, with three rhymes regularly 
in succession. 



COMBINED MEASURES. QQ§ 

A still, small voice spake unto me : 
"Thou art so full of misery, 
^ Were it not better not to be "?" 

V 

Then to the still, small voice I said : 

" Let me not cast in endless shade 

What is so wonderfully made !" — Tennyson. 

HEROIC COUPLETS. 

§ 712. Five measures, x a^ with pairs of rhymes. See § 
684. 

HEROIC TRIPLETS. 

§ 713. Five measures, x a, with three rhymes in suc- 
cession. 

By this the brides are vi^aked, their grooms are dress'd ; 

All Rhodes is summon'd to the nuptial feast : 

All but myself, the sole unbidden Guest. — Dryden. 

ELEGIAC HEROICS. 

§ 714. These are the same as the common heroics, except 
that the lines regularly alternate, and are arranged in stanzas. 

The curfew tolls the knell of parting day, 
The lowing herds wind slowly o'er the lea ; 

The plowman homeward plods his weary way, 
And leaves the world to darkness and to me. —Gray. 

RHYME ROYAL. 

§ 715. Seven lines of heroics, with the two last rhymes in 
succession, and the five first recurring at intervals. It ad- 
mits of varieties, according to the distribution of the five first 
rhymes. 

For, lo ! the sea that fleets about the land, 

And like a girdle clips her solid waist. 

Music and measure both doth understand 

For his great crystal eye is always cast 

Up to the moon, and on her fixeth fast ; 

And as she in her pallid sphere, 

So danceth he about the center here. 

Sir John Davis. 

§ 716. OTTAVA RIMA. 

Morgante had a palace in his mode, 

Composed of branches, logs of wood, and earth, 
And stretch'd himself at ease in this abode, 
And shut himself at night within his berth. 



666 POETICAL FORMS. 

Orlando knock'd, and knock'd again, to goad 

The giant from his sleep ; and he came forth 
The door to open like a crazy thing, 
For a rough dream had shook him slumbering. — Byron, 

§ 717. TERZA RIMA. 

Many are poets who have never penn'd 

Their inspiration, and, perchance, the best : 
They felt, and loved, and died, but would not lend 
Their thoughts to meaner beings ; they compress'd 

The God within them, and rejoin'd the stars 
Unlaurel'd upon earth, but far more bless'd 
Than those who are degraded by the jars 
Of passion, and their frailties linked to fame, 

Conquerors of high renown; but full of scars. — Byron. 

ALEXANDRINES. 

§ 718. Six measures, x a, with rhyme. The name is said 
to be taken from the fact that early romances upon the deeds 
of Alexander of Macedon, of great popularity, were written in 
this meter. See § 685. 

BALLAD STANZA. 

§ 719. This consists of four lines. The first is composed 
of four Iambics, formula x aX4:. The second is composed 
of three Iambics, formula x aXZ. The third and fourth are 
like the first and second. 

The Past and Present here unite 

Beneath Time's flowing tide ; 
Like footprints hidden by a brook, 

But seen on either side. — Longfellow. 

§720. RHOMBIC MEASURES. 

Ah me ! 

Am I the swain 

That, late from sorrow Free, 

Did all the cares on earth disdain '? 

And still untouch'd, as at some safer games, 

Play'd with the burning coals of love and beauty's flames T 

Was't I could drive and sound each passion's secret depth at will, 

And from those huge o'erwhelmings rise by help of reason still t 

And am I now, O heavens ! for trying this in vain, 

So sunk that I shall never rise again? 

Then let despair set sorrow's string 

For strains that doleful be, 

And I will sing 

Ah me ! Wither. 



COMBINED MEASURES. 667 



COMMON METER. 

§ 721. The first line consists of four Iambics, formnla 
X aX 4:. The second line consists of three Iambics, formula 
X aXS. The stanza consists of four lines, which rhyme al» 
+ernately. 

Happy the heart where Graces reign, 

Where love inspires the breast ; 
Love is the brightest of the train, 

And strengthens all the rest. — Watts. 

LONG METER. 

§ 722. The four lines which compose a stanza are of equal 
length, each consisting of four Iambics, the formula being 
X aX 4. The lines rhyme sometimes alternately, and some- 
times in couplets. 

The billows swell, the winds are high, 

Clouds overcast my wint'ry sky ; 

Out of the depths to Thee I call ; ' ' 

My fears are great, my strength is small. — Cowpee. 

SHORT METER. 

§ 723. The stanza consists of four lines. The first, sec- 
ond, and fourth consist of three Iambics ; the formula is 
X aX. The third of four Iambics ; the formula i^ x aX 4, 
I love thy kingdom, Lord, 

The house of thine abode ; 
The Church our best Redeemer saved 
With his own precious blood ! — Dwight. 

HALLELUJAH METER. 

§ 724. The stanza consists of eight lines. The first four 
consist of three Iambics ; the last four of two Iambics. 
Yes, the Redeemer rose ! 

The Savior left the dead ; 
And on our heUish foes 

High raised his conquering head : 
In wild dismay, 
The guards around 
Fall to the ground, 
And sink away. — -Doddridge. 

Besides these, there are Combinations of Iambic Measures, 
Trochaic Measures, and Anapestic Measures. Each kind can 
be easily ascertained from the descriptions already given. 



PUNCTUATION. 



§ 725. Punctuation, from the Latin punctum, a point, is 
the art of dividing written composition by Points or Stops, 
for the purpose of marking the different pauses which the 
sense and the pronunciation require. 

What is the true principle of punctuation ? One opinion 
on this point is, that it is the business of punctuation to di- 
vide written language into such portions as a correct speak, 
er would divide it into. This opinion is supported by his- 
torical reasons found in the practice of old manuscripts, and 
by the increased facilities which this mode of punctuation 
affords to the public reader. This view of punctuation is the 
Rhetorical view. 

The other opinion on this point is, that punctuation should 
attend only to the Grammatical structure of a sentence, and 
should never separate the subject from the predicate, or the 
case governed from the verb that governs it. Such was the 
opinion of the critic caricatured by Sterne. " And how did 
Garrick speak the soliloquy ?" ''Oh I against all rule," says 
the critic, " most ungrammatically . Between the nomina- 
tive case, which your lordship knows should govern the verb, 
he suspended his voice a dozen times, three seconds and three 
fifths, by a stop watch, my lord, each time." 

The current practice is generally more in accordance with 
the grammatical than the rhetorical view. The following 
are the common rules, though there is considerable diversity 
among authors and printers in their application. 

THE COMMA ( , ). 

§ 726. Rule I. — When the subject of a simple sentence 
is accompanied by several adjuncts, a comma should be in- 
troduced immediately before the verb ; as, " The injustice 



PUNCTUATION. QQQ 

and barbarity of this censure on all former editors of the New- 
Testament, will appear," &o. 

Rule II. — When the connection between a subject and 
the verb is interrupted by one or more important words, a 
comma should be inserted both before and after them : ''I 
remember, with the deepest gratitude, his goodness to me." 
*< To do good, if we have the opportunity, is our duty." 

Rule III. — Two or more words in the same construction 
are separated by a comma ; as, '' Reason, virtue, answer one 
great aim ;" '' A woman sensible, gentle, well-educated, and 
religious ;" "In a letter, we may advise, exhort, comfort, and 
request;" "We are fearfully, wonderfully framed." 

When the two words, however, are closely connected by a 
conjunction, no comma is admitted between them; as, "The 
study of natural history expands and elevates the mind." 
But if the parts connected are not short, the comma may be 
inserted; as, "Intemperance destroys the strength of our 
bodies, and the vigor of our minds.'''' 

Rule IV. — When words in the same construction are 
joined in pairs by a conjunction, they are separated in pairs 
by a comma ; as, " Hope and fear, pleasure and pain, diver- 
sify our lives." 

Rule V. — Expressions in a Direct Address, the Nomina- 
tive absolute, the Infinitive absolute, the Participle absolute, 
and words like hence, besides, first, are separated by commas 
from the body of the sentence ; as, " Come hither, Hubert ;" 
" His father dying, he succeeded to the estate ;" "To do her 
justice, she was a good-natured, reasonable woman ;" "Prop- 
erly speaking, he is guilty of falsehood ;" " Besides, the is- 
sue is doubtful." 

Rule VI. — Nouns in Apposition, when accompanied with 
adjuncts, and Nouns attended by Participles or Adjectives 
with dependent words, are separated by a comma ; as, "Paul, 
the Apostle of the Gentiles, was eminent for his zeal and 
knowledge ;" " The king, approving the plan, put it in exe- 
cution ;" " But he, anxious to refer the cause to arbitration, 
refused." But if such nouns are single, or form only a prop- 
er name, they are not divided; as, "Paul the Apostle." 

Rule VII. — Simple members of sentences connected by 



570 PUNCTUATION. 

comparatives (as, than) are generally separated by a comma ; 
as, "Better is a dinner of herbs with love, than a stalled ox 
and hatred v^ith it." 

If the members in the comparative sentence are short, the 
comma is, in general, better omitted ; as, " How much bet- 
ter is it to get wisdom than gold^ 

Rule VIII.— -Words placed in opposition to each other, or 
with some marked variety, require to be distinguished by a 
comma ; as, " Though deep, yet clear ; though gentle, yet 
not dull." 

Rule IX. — A remarkable expression or short observation, 
somewhat in the manner of a quotation, should be marked 
with a comma ; as, " It hurts a man's pride to say, I do not 
know." 

Rule X.— Relative Pronouns generally admit a comma 
before them, except when closely connected with the anteced- 
ent ; as, " He preaches sublimely, who lives a sober, right- 
eous, and pious life ;" " Self-denial is the sacrifice which vir- 
tue must make." 

Rule XL — ^When an Infinitive Mode or a sentence is a 
subject, but is placed after the verb, it has generally a com- 
ma before it ; as, "It ill becomes good and wise men, to op- 
pose and degrade one another." 

Rule XII.— When a verb is understood, a comma may 
often be properly introduced ; as, "From law arises security; 
from security, curiosity : from curiosity, knowledge." 

THE SEMICOLON ( ; ). 

§ 727. The Semicolon is placed between the members of 
a sentence which are not so closely connected as those which 
are separated by a comma. 

" We can not give a distinct name to every distinct ob- 
ject which we perceive, nor to every distinct thought which 
passes through the mind ; nor are these thoughts, or even 
these objects, so entirely distinct to human conception as 
many persons are apt to imagine. If I see a horse to-day, 
and another horse to-morrow, the conceptions which I form 
of these different objects are, indeed, different in some re- 
spects : but in others they asfree." 



PUNCTUATION. 671 

Several short sentences, each complete in its construction, 
can be separated by semicolons, when it would be allowable 
to use periods. 

THE COLON ( : ). 

§ 728. The Colon is used to divide a sentence into two or 
more parts, less connected than those which are separated by 
a semicolon, but not so independent as separate distinct sen- 
tences. 

1. When a member of a sentence is complete in itself, but 
followed by some supplemental remark or further illustration 
of the subject, the colon is used ; as, "A brute arrives at a 
point of perfection that he can never pass : in a few years he 
has all the endowments he is capable of ; and were he to live 
ten thousand more, he would be the same thing that he is at 
present." 

2. When a semicolon, or more than one, has preceded, and 
a still greater pause is necessary in order to mark the con- 
necting or concluding sentence ; as, " As we perceive the 
shadow to have moved along the dial, but did not perceive 
it moving ; and it appears that the grass has grown, though 
nobody ever saw it grow : so the advances we make in 
knowledge, as they consist of such insensible steps, are only 
perceivable by the distance." 

3. The colon is frequently used when a quotation or a 
speech is introduced; as, "I admire this sublime passage: 
< God said, Let there be light, and there was light.' " 

THE PERIOD ( . ). 

§ 729. The Period marks the completion of the sense, in 
Declarative sentences ; as, " Worldly happiness ever tends to 
destroy itself, by corrupting the heart. It fosters the loose 
and the violent passions. It engenders noxious habits, and 
taints the mind with false delicacy, which makes it feel a 
thousand unreal evils." 

The period should be used after abbreviations; as, A.B., 
Dec, Mr., &c. 

§ 730. The Dash ( — ) marks a break in the sentence, or 
an abrupt transition ; as, " There was to be a stern death- 



672 PUINCTUATION. 

grapple between Might and Right — between the heavy arm 
and the ethereal thought — between that which was and that 
which ought to Z>e." '' If thou art he — but O how fallen !" 

§ 731. The Interrogation point (?) closes a sentence 
which asks a question ; as, ^' When shall you return ?" 

§ 732. The Exclamation point (!) is used after sudden 

expressions of surprise, and after invocations and addresses ; 

as, '' How are the mighty fallen I" " When the interjection 

oh is used, the point is generally placed immediately after it : 

but when O is employed, the point is placed after one or 

more intervening words ; as, 

" ' Oh ! my offense is rank, it smells to heaven.' 

" ' But thou, Hope ! with eyes so fair. ' " 

Well's Grammar,-^. l91. 

§ 733. The Parenthesis ( ) includes a remark or clause 
not essential to the sentence, but useful in explaining it ; as, 
" Every planet (for God has made nothing in vain) is most 
probably inhabited." 

§ 734. Brackets [ ] inclose a word or sentence which is to 
be explained in a note, or the explanation itself, or a word or 
sentence which is intended to supply some deficiency or rec- 
tify some mistake ; as, " He [Mr. Canning] was of a different 
opinion." 

§ 735. The Apostrophe ( ' ) is used to denote the abbrevi- 
ation of a word ; as. His for it is. Its chief use is to mark 
the genitive case of nouns ; as, " John's hat." 

§ 736. The mark of Accent (' or ^) is placed over a syl- 
lable to denote a particular stress of the voice which is re- 
quired in the pronunciation. The first is called the Acute 
accent^ and is in use. The other is called the Grave accent ^ 
and is not much in use in the English language. 

§ 737. The Caret (a) denotes that some word or letter 

last 
has been left out in writing ; as, *' I called to see him ^ night." 

§ 738. A Hyphen (-) is employed in connecting compound- 
ed words ; as, ^' Lap-dog ; to-morrow." 

It is also used when a word is divided, and the former part 
is printed or written at the end of one line, and the latter 
part at the beginning of another. In this case it is placed 



PUNCTUATION. 673 

L^ the end of the first line, and not at the beginning of the 
Bccond. 

When each of two contiguous substantives retains each its 
original accent, the hyphen should be omitted; as, '^master 
huiVderP When the latter loses or alters its accent, the hy- 
phen should be inserted; as, ^^^hip-huilderP 

When two substantives are in apposition, and either of 
the two is separately applicable to the person or thing desig- 
nated, the hyphen should be omitted ; as, lord chancellor. 
When they are not in apposition, and only one of the two is 
separately applicable to the person or thing, the hyphen 
should be inserted ; as, a horse-dealer^ one who is a dealer, 
but not a horse. 

When the first substantive serves the purpose of an adjec- 
tive, expressing the matter or substance of which the second 
thing consists, and may be placed after it with of (not de- 
noting possession), the hyphen should be omitted ; as, silk 
gown = gown of silk. When the first does not express the 
matter or substance of the second, and may be placed after 
it with of (denoting possession), or with, for ^oy belonging to, 
the hyphen should be inserted ; as. School-master, play-time, 
cork-screw, laundry -maid = the master of the school, time 
of play, screw for corks, maid belonging to the laundry. 

Between an adjective and its substantive the hyphen should 
be omitted ; as. High sheriff, prime minister. When the 
adjective and its substantive are used as a kind of compound 
adjective to another substantive, the hyphen should be in- 
serted between the two former ; as, high-church doctrine. 

When an adjective, or an adverb, and a participle imme- 
diately following, are together used as a kind of compound 
adjective, merely expressing an inherent quality without ref- 
erence to immediate action, and (in order of syntax) precede 
the substantive to which they are joined, the hyphen should 
be inserted ; as, a quick-sailing vessel. When they imply 
immediate action, and (in order of syntax) follow the sub- 
stantive, the hyphen should be omitted ; as, " The ship quick 
sailing o'er the deep." See Carey's English Prosody. 

§ 739. The mark for the long vowel (~) is used by being 
placed over it ; as in " Rosy." The mark for the short 
vowel (^) is used in the same manner ; as in '< Folly." 

Uu 



674 PUNCTUATION. 

§ 740. The Di^bresis ( •• ) consists of two points, which are 
placed over one of two vowels which would otherwise make 
a diphthong, and parts them into syllables ; as, " Creator ;" 
" aerial." 

§ 741. The Paragraph (^ ) denotes the beginning of a 
nev/ topic. This character is chiefly used in the Bible. 

§ 742. The Section ( § ) denotes the division of a discourse 
or chapter into less portions. * 

§ 743. Quotation marks ( " " ) denote that the words of 
another are introduced ; as, " Hope springs eternal in the 
human breast." 

§ 744. The Index or Hand ( |t^^ ) points out a remark- 
able passage. 

§ 745. The Ellipsis ( ^^^ or ) denotes the omis- 
sion of some letters or words ; as, K — g for king ; c^^^=^^n 
for captain. 

§ 746. The Asterisk (^), the Obelisk (f ), the Double 
Dagger ($ ), and Parallels ( || ), together with Letters and 
Figures, are used as references to the margin or bottom of 
the page. 

capital letters. 

§ 747. In ancient manuscripts capital letters only were 
used, which followed one another without being divided into 
words by spaces or into sentences by points. For centuries 
after the introduction of small letters in the seventh century, 
they were much more used than at the present time. Nouns 
always commenced with a capital, as is the practice now in 
the German language. As in punctuation, so in the use of 
capitals in the English language, there is some diversity in 
the practice of writers and printers. 

The following classes of words usually begin with capital 
letters : 

1. The first word of every book, chapter, letter, or any 
other piece of writing ; also the first word after a Period ; 
also the first word after an Interrogation point, or an Ex- 
clamation point, if it closes an independent sentence ; also the 
first word of every line of poetry ; also the first word of a 
formal quotation ; as. Remember the ancient maxim ; '' Kjiow 



PUNCTUATION. 675 

thyself." But for an informal quotation a capital is unnec- 
essary ; as, Solomon remarks '' that pride goes before destruc- 
tion" of places. 

2. Proper names ; Adjectives derived from proper names ; 
titles of honor and distinction ; and Common Nouns personi- 
fied : New York ; Roman ; General Scott ; Alexander the 
Great ; ''There Honor comes a pilgrim gray." 

3. Words used as the names of the Deity ; as, God, Je- 
hovah. 

4. Every substantive and principal word in the title of 
books ; as, '< Pope's Essay on Man." The title-page of books 
is usually printed in capitals. 

5. The pronoun I and the interjection O. 

Other words besides the preceding may begin with capi- 
tal letters when they are emphatical, or the principal subject 
of discourse. Italic letters are used for distinguishing words 
and phrases which are emphatic. 



THE END. 



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